Composite low-coherence interferometer for imaging of immersed tissue with high accuracy

Abstract

Imaging and measurement of the surface profile of an object with high resolution has become essential in both of biological research and industry application. Many samples under investigation such as cultured cells are usually immersed in liquid. Although the techniques such as scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope can provide imaging or measurement of the surface profile with nanometer resolution, it is difficult for them to image an immersed object with their typical types. Recently, we have proposed and demonstrated a new technique based on composite interferometer which can perform imaging and measurement of the surface profile of an object with accuracy in the axial direction within 5 nm through a self-phase-compensation mechanism. In this research, an optical system based on the concept of combination of optical coherence microscopy (OCM) and composite interferometer was built for imaging of biological tissue immersed in water with axial accuracy at nanometer scale. In the system, a Ti:sapphire laser with center wavelength at 800 nm and spectral width of 140 nm was used as the light source. The composite interferometer comprises two Michelson interferometers sharing common light source, reference arm and photodetector. One of the two interferometers served as a typical OCM system and the other was used to measure the phase shift in the reference arm in each axial scan with the sample being a fixed reflection mirror. The system was used to image the surface profiles of various immersed biological samples with accuracy at nanometer scale through the self-phasecompensation mechanism.