Simultaneous multiplane imaging with programmable multiplexed gratings

Microscopy has been widely used to obtain three-dimensional images of a biological sample. However, it requires a scanning in axial direction and considerable time to acquire multiple depths information of a volumetric sample. In this paper, we demonstrate a method for single-shot multi-plane imaging based on programmable multiplexed grating patterns with no mechanical moving parts by using a digital micro-mirror device (DMD). The multiplexed grating pattern displayed on DMD, in a Fourier plane, splits light into separated beam paths and are able to compensate aberrations from the proposed system. In addition, resolution can be improved using an aberration-corrected multiplexed gratings pattern. We present and characterize the design, implementation, and experimentally demonstrate the proposed system's ability through simultaneous multiple planes imaging of the biological samples.