Polarization Sensitive Digital Holographic Imaging in Biology

A new, simple digital holography-based polarization microscope for quantitative birefringence imaging of biological cells is presented. As a proof of concept, two different class of cells have been characterized by polarization sensitive digital holographic imaging (PSDHI). These two cases study reported are: differentiation of leukaemia cells and identification of reacted sperm cells. Although further experimentation is necessary, the suggested approach could represent a prospective label-free diagnostic tool for use in biological and medical research and diagnosis.