Contrast transfer function

About: Contrast transfer function is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 934 publications have been published within this topic receiving 26533 citations.

Study of the Off-Axis Fresnel Zone Plate of a Microscopic Tomographic Aberration

Abstract: A tomographic microscopy system can achieve instantaneous three-dimensional imaging, and this type of microscopy system has been widely used in the study of biological samples; however, existing chromatographic microscopes based on off-axis Fresnel zone plates have degraded image quality due to geometric aberrations such as spherical aberration, coma aberration, and image scattering. This issue hinders the further development of chromatographic microscopy systems. In this paper, we propose a method for the design of an off-axis Fresnel zone plate with the elimination of aberrations based on double exposure point holographic surface interference. The aberration coefficient model of the optical path function was used to solve the optimal recording parameters, and the principle of the aberration elimination tomography microscopic optical path was verified. The simulation and experimental verification were carried out utilizing a Seidel coefficient, average gradient, and signal-to-noise ratio. First, the aberration coefficient model of the optical path function was used to solve the optimal recording parameters. Then, the laminar mi-coroscopy optical system was constructed for the verification of the principle. Finally, the simulation calculation results and the experimental results were verified by comparing the Seidel coefficient, average gradient, and signal-to-noise ratio of the microscopic optical system before and after the aberration elimination. The results show that for the diffractive light at the orders 0 and ±1, the spherical aberration W040 decreases by 62–70%, the coma aberration W131 decreases by 96–98%, the image dispersion W222 decreases by 71–82%, and the field curvature W220 decreases by 96–96%, the average gradient increases by 2.8%, and the signal-to-noise ratio increases by 18%.

Optical Simulation of the Origin of Contrast in the Electron Microscope

Abstract: A simple setup is described that simulates an electron microscope imaging a two-dimensional lattice. The diffraction pattern in the back focal plane is large enough to be easily observed and manipulated. The origin of contrast can be demonstrated by filtering out the image contributions of the individual Fourier components. The experiment can be used to demonstrate Abbe's theory of the microscope, origin of phase contrast, and two-dimensional Fourier transforms.

An iterative method for robust in-line phase contrast imaging

Abstract: We present an iterative near-field in-line phase contrast method that allows quantitative determination of the thickness of an object given the refractive index of the sample material. The iterative method allows for quantitative phase contrast imaging in regimes where the contrast transfer function (CTF) and transport of intensity equation (TIE) cannot be applied. Further, the nature of the iterative scheme offers more flexibility and potentially allows more high-resolution image reconstructions when compared to TIE method and less artefacts when compared to the CTF method. While, not addressed here, extension of our approach in future work to broadband illumination will also be straightforward as the wavelength dependence of the refractive index of an object can be readily incorporated into the iterative approach.