Spiral phase contrast imaging in microscopy

We demonstrate an optical method for edge contrast enhancement in light microscopy. The method is based on holographic Fourier plane filtering of the microscopic image with a spiral phase element (also called vortex phase or helical phase filter) displayed as an off-axis hologram at a computer controlled high resolution spatial light modulator (SLM) in the optical imaging pathway. The phase hologram imprints a helical phase term of the form exp(iphi) on the diffracted light field in its Fourier plane. In the image plane, this results in a strong and isotropic edge contrast enhancement for both amplitude and phase objects. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.