Extended coherent modulation imaging for single-shot object retrieval free from illumination artifacts

Abstract

Coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) is a rapidly advancing technique, especially for imaging weakly absorptive samples with x-rays or electrons at nano or atomic resolutions. For the study of fast dynamics, single-shot imaging ability is essential. However, reconstructions provided by current single-shot CDI methods are subject to the impairment of illumination artifacts. If one wants to obtain artifact-free object images, flat or well-calibrated illumination would be required. Here, we proposed an extension to coherent modulation imaging (CMI) to realize pure object function retrieval from a single sample measurement. This extension removes the restrictions on the forms of illumination and allows flexibly placing the object between the illumination aperture and the modulator. Our method has been verified in the numerical simulation and visible light experiment, and it could make CMI a practical and powerful microscopy technique.