Granted Patent B2

US 12,587,752 · App. 18/677,131 · Granted Mar 24, 2026

Inventors: Roarke Horstmeyer (Durham, NC); Shiqi Xu (Durham, NC); Xiang Dai (Durham, NC); Lucas Kreiss (Durham, NC); Jadee Neff (Durham, NC); Carolyn Glass (Durham, NC)

Assignee: DUKE UNIVERSITY

H04N23/951G02B21/06G02B21/361G02B21/367G06T5/10G06T5/50G06T2200/04G06T2207/10016G06T2207/10056

Abstract

Claims (41)

1 . A Fourier ptychography system, comprising:

a polarization-sensitive camera positioned for capturing a sequence of polarized images of a sample;

an objective lens positioned in a light path between the polarization-sensitive camera and the sample;

an array of light sources for directing light to the sample;

a generator polarizer positioned between the array of light sources and the sample to polarize light directed to the sample from the array of light sources; and

a computing system coupled to the polarization-sensitive camera and configured to create a tomographic Fourier ptychography image by:

receiving, from the polarization-sensitive camera, the sequence of polarized images of the sample in the light path that passes through the generator polarizer, the sample, and the objective lens, wherein each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images overlaps another polarized image of the sequence of polarized images;

stitching each image of the sequence of images together using a non-linear Fourier transform function to create a composite image; and

outputting the composite image as the tomographic Fourier ptychography image.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the generator polarizer is a left-circular polarizer.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the generator polarizer is a generator polarizer array.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the generator polarizer array is optimized based on a type of the sample.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the generator polarizer array is configured to provide a plurality of polarization states.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of polarization states comprise birefringence, di-attenuation, and orientation.

7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a tube lens positioned between the objective lens and the polarization-sensitive camera.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of light sources is an LED array.

9 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising a controller configured to sequentially turn on LEDs of the LED array.

10 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising a voltage level shifter to adjust voltage applied to the LED array.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the polarization-sensitive camera comprises:

a microlens array;

a sensor; and

a wire-grid polarizer positioned between the microlens array and the sensor.

12 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a data interface for outputting the sequence of polarized images of the sample.

13 . A method of creating a tomographic Fourier ptychography image, comprising:

receiving, from a polarization-sensitive camera, a sequence of polarized images of a sample in a light path that passes through a generator polarizer, the sample, and an objective lens, wherein each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images overlaps another polarized image of the sequence of polarized images;

stitching each image of the sequence of images together using a non-linear Fourier transform function to create a composite image; and

outputting the composite image as the tomographic Fourier ptychography image.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images includes a mix of at least four different polarized light amplitudes.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising de-mixing each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images for an amplitude of each of the four different polarized light amplitudes.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein stitching each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images together using the non-linear Fourier transform function comprises:

measuring an amplitude of each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images;

estimating a guess amplitude and a guess phase for each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images in a Fourier space;

generating a simulated image by using the guess amplitude and the guess phase for each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images using an inverse Fourier transform function;

updating the simulated image by replacing the guess amplitude with the measured amplitude for each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images; and

reverting the updated simulated image to the Fourier space by applying a Fourier transform to the updated simulated image for each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein applying the Fourier transform to the updated simulated image for each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images correspondingly updates the guess phase and the measured amplitude from the updated simulated image.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

iteratively repeating the generating step, the updating step, and the reverting step until the sequence of polarized images converges as a high-resolution composite image,

wherein, in the iteratively repeating generating step, a prior updated measured amplitude is used as the guess amplitude and a prior updated guess phase is used as the guess phase.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each polarized image of the sequence of polarized images overlaps another polarized image of the sequence of polarized images by at least 75%.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the composite image is three-dimensional.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (92)