Holographic Digital Fourier Microscopy for Selective Imaging of Biological Tissue

We present an application of digital Fourier holography for selective imaging of scatterers with different sizes in turbid media such as biological tissues. A combination of Fourier holography and high-resolution digital recording, digital Fourier microscopy (DFM) permits crucial flexibility in applying filtering to highlight scatterers of interest in the tissue. The high-resolution digital hologram is; a result of the collation of Fourier holographic frames to form a large-size composite hologram. It is expected that DFM has an improved signal-to-noise ratio as compared to conventional direct digital imaging, e.g., phase microscopy, as applied to imaging of small-size objects. The demonstration of the Fourier filtering capacity of DFM using a biological phantom represents the main focus of this article. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.