High throughput holographic imaging-in-flow for the analysis of a wide plankton size range.

We developed a Digital Holographic Microscope (DHM) working with a partial coherent source specifically adapted to perform high throughput recording of holograms of plankton organisms in-flow, in a size range of 3 µm-300 µm, which is of importance for this kind of applications. This wide size range is achieved with the same flow cell and with the same microscope magnification. The DHM configuration combines a high magnification with a large field of view and provides high-resolution intensity and quantitative phase images refocusing on high sample flow rate. Specific algorithms were developed to detect and extract automatically the particles and organisms present in the samples in order to build holograms of each one that are used for holographic refocusing and quantitative phase contrast imaging. Experimental results are shown and discussed.