Polynomial phase masks for extending the depth of field of a microscope

A polynomial phase mask is designed and fabricated for enhancing the depth of field of a microscope by more than tenfold. A generic polynomial of degree 31 that consists of 16 odd power terms is optimized by simulated annealing with a realistic average modulation transfer function (MTF) iteratively set as the target MTF. Optical experimental results are shown. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.