Researchers create holographic microscope for smartphones

Researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology created a holographic microscope that you can bring anywhere via smartphone. 

Most digital holographic microscopes are not suitable for field use due to their reliance on desktop computers. 

Fortunately, Yuki Nagahama and her team invented one that is “inexpensive, portable, and useful for a variety of applications and settings.” 

How does this holographic microscope work?

Science news website EurekAlert explains holographic microscopes digitally reconstruct holograms to provide 3D information about a sample.

This method provides scientists with precise measurements of its surface and internal structures. However, existing systems typically require complex optical systems, making them difficult to use outdoors.

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Nagahama and her team created a more portable version that works on smartphones. They started by letting it function with fewer data points via band-limited double-step Fresnel diffraction. 

Then, they created a lightweight housing for the optical system using a 3D printer and developed an Android app to reconstruct the system’s holograms. 

The holographic microscope generates a reconstructed image on the image sensor of a USB camera built into the optical system. 

Users could observe them via their Android smartphones, which provide real-time computational image reconstruction. Also, they can “pinch’ their screens to zoom in and view parts in greater detail.

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The tool could create images of samples like a cross-section of a pine needle. Moreover, Nagahama explained why she and her team created this technology:

“When I was a student, I worked on portable digital holographic microscopes, which initially used laptops as the computing system.”

“With the rise of smartphones, I began exploring their potential as computing systems for broader applications and considered leveraging them for tasks like removing artifacts from observed images, which ultimately shaped the development of this microscope.”

Nagahama added that their invention could have numerous medical, educational, and research applications worldwide. 

For example, it could help a researcher diagnose sickle cell disease or aid a student in observing living organisms.