Portable Common Path Shearing Interferometry Holographic Microscopy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional interferometry-based holographic microscopy systems are not portable due to their requirement for a floating optical table to maintain interferometric stability, limiting their application in field-based or space-constrained environments.
Innovation Solution
A portable common path shearing interferometry-based holographic imaging system is developed, incorporating a laser light source, sample holder, microscope objective lens, shear plate, and imaging device housed in a compact configuration that maintains stability without mechanical isolation, achieving temporal stability of 0.1-1.5 nanometers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional interferometry-based holographic microscopy systems use a floating optical table to maintain interferometric stability, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and portability are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the floating optical table from the system architecture. Instead of using a complex mechanical isolation platform, the invention extracts the vibration isolation function and replaces it with a compact common-path interferometer design that is inherently insensitive to vibrations, achieving portability while maintaining measurement precision
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of trying to isolate the system from vibrations using a floating table, the patent inverts the approach by designing an interferometric path that is common to both reference and object beams. This common-path configuration ensures that vibrations affect both beams equally, canceling out their differential effects and maintaining interference stability without mechanical isolation
2Ease of operation
If the system is made compact and portable, then ease of operation is improved, but maintaining temporal stability without mechanical isolation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional approach to stability by making the interferometric path common to both beams. This ensures that temporal fluctuations and vibrations affect both reference and object beams identically, so their differential measurement remains stable even in a compact, portable configuration without mechanical isolation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the reference beam and object beam into a single common optical path. By combining these previously separate paths into one shared path, the system eliminates differential vibrations and maintains temporal stability while enabling a compact, portable design
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides stable interferometric measurements in a compact and lightweight form, enabling on-site analysis of biological samples and overcoming the limitations of traditional setups by maintaining high temporal stability without the need for a floating optical table.
Implementation Method 1
a laser light source
Implementation Method 2
common path shearing interferometry configuration
Implementation Method 3
shear plate configured to split the beam into two laterally sheared beams generating a hologram of the sample
Implementation Method 4
microscope objective lens configured to magnify the beam after illuminating the sample
Implementation Method 5
imaging device... configured to capture one or more images of the hologram of the sample
Data Source
AI summary
Portable common path shearing interferometry-based holographic microscopy systems. The system includes a light source, a sample holder, a microscope objective lens, a shear plate and an imaging device positioned in a common path shearing interferometry configuration. A housing is configured to receive and hold the shear plate and maintain a position of the shear plate relative to the microscope objective lens.