AN OPTICAL MICROSCOPE FOR IMAGING THREE-DIMENSIONAL, SEMITRANSPARENT STRUCTURES

IT IS PROPOSED TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF CONSTRUCTING AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL MICROSCOPE THAT HAS THE CAPABILITY OF YIELDING HIGH QUALITY, QUANTITATIVE IMAGES OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL SEMITRANSPARENT OBJECTS WITHOUT THE NEED OF PHYSICALLY SLICING THE SPECIMEN PRIOR TO IMAGING. THE MICROSCOPE GENERATES A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPLEX INDEX OF REFRACTION OF AN OBJECT BY DIGITALLY PROCESSING MULTIPLE GABOR HOLOGRAMS OF THE STRUCTURE USING THE FILTERED BACKPROPAGATION ALGORITHM OF DIFFRACTION TOMOGRAPHY. THE PHASE I PROGRAM HAS AS ITS PRINCIPAL GOAL THE DETERMINATION OF THE PRACTICALITY OF THE UNDERLYING MICROSCOPIC PRINCIPLE VIS A VIE THE SENSITIVITY OF THE RECONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE TO NOISE AND OTHER ERROR SOURCES AND THE DETERMINATION OF THE IMAGING PERFORMANCE OF SUCH A MICROSCOPE UNDER LESS THAN IDEAL OPERATING CONDITIONS. IT IS PROPOSED TO COMPLETE A PROTOTYPE BREADBOARD DESIGN OF THE SYSTEM DURING THE PHASE I PROGRAM.