Wavefront single-pixel imaging using a flexible SLM-based common-path interferometer.

• A passive-detection-based WSPI method using a flexible SLM-based common-path interferometer is proposed. The common-path phase-shift or off-axis technique can be flexibly realized by a "sandwich" structure consisting of a half-wave plate, a SLM, and a polarizer. • The proposed method does not require sacrificing the pixel resolution of the SLM to introduce the reference light, therefore, there does not exist a tradeoff between the wavefront imaging resolution and field of view. • The proposed method for measuring wavefront as well as its application for quantitative phase imaging of a dragonfly wing was experimentally demonstrated, which indicates it has potential applications in the field of biological quantitative phase imaging. • The proposed method paves the way for passively measuring spatial wavefronts of unknown fields with higher performances, only using a single detector and the SLM-based "sandwich" structure, which is compact and simple. Wavefront single-pixel imaging (WSPI) is an important tool for simultaneously measuring the amplitude and phase of an unknown field, especially suitable for wavefront detecting in some special wavelengths where array detectors are immature or even unavailable. Here, a passive-detection-based WSPI method using a flexible SLM-based common-path interferometer is proposed, in which by detecting the zero-order diffraction of the SLM directly, the common-path phase-shift or off-axis technique can be flexibly realized by a "sandwich" structure consisting of a half-wave plate, a SLM, and a polarizer. The reference light can be conveniently chosen as the direct reflected light from the SLM, the unmodulated light from the pixels of the SLM, or the light from both of them. We experimentally verify the feasibility and advantages of the proposed method. We further demonstrate the method for wavefront measurement of a dragonfly wing, which suggests it can be used for quantitative phase imaging. It provides a high-resolution spatial wavefront passive detection technique, with a compact, stable, and flexible setup, which has lots of applications involving three-dimensional imaging, aberration correction, digital holographic measurement, and digital microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]