We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, form of polarization microscopy capable of producing quantitative optic-axis and phase retardation maps of transparent and anisotropic materials. The proposed method operates on differential phase-contrast (DPC) microscopy that produces a phase image of a thin specimen using multi-axis intensity measurements. For polarization-sensitive imaging, patterned illumination light is circularly polarized to illuminate a specimen. The light transmitted through a specimen is split into two orthogonal polarization states and measured by an image sensor. Subsequent DPC computation based on the illumination patterns, acquired images, and the imaging model enables the retrieval of polarization-dependent quantitative phase images, which are utilized to reconstruct the orientation and retardation of the specimen. We demonstrate the validity of the proposed method by measuring the optic-axis and phase retardation maps of calibrated and various anisotropic samples.

中文翻译：

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偏振敏感的差分相衬显微镜

据我们所知，我们提出了一种新颖的偏振显微镜形式，能够产生透明和各向异性材料的定量光轴和相位延迟图。所提出的方法在微分相差显微镜（DPC）上运行，该显微镜使用多轴强度测量产生薄样品的相图像。对于偏振敏感成像，将图案化的照明光圆偏振以照亮样本。透过样品的光被分成两个正交的偏振态，并由图像传感器进行测量。随后基于照明图案，采集的图像和成像模型进行的DPC计算能够检索偏振相关的定量相位图像，这些图像用于重构样本的方向和延迟。