THREE-DIMENTIONAL COHERENT OPTICAL DIFFRACTION TOMOGRAPHY OF TRANSPARENT LIVING SAMPLES

We present a technique to image living transparent specimens in 3-D, based on coherent optical diffraction microscopy. The sample is successively illuminated by a series of plane waves having different directions. Each scattered wave is recorded by phase-shifting interferometry and a Fourier representation of the object is reconstructed. The specimen, first recorded in Fourier space, is then reconstructed in the object space. This technique permits a 3-D reconstruction of the complex index of refraction distribution, with a resolution of the order on a quarter of the wavelength.