Holographic Microscope Detects Bacteria on the Cheap
Reflection Imaging of Skin Tissue Using Off-Axis Holography Myungjun Lee, Oguzhan Yaglidere, and Aydogan Ozcan via Biomedical Express (PDF) Researchers at UCLA have built a cheap, optics-free holographic microscope capable of detecting bacteria like E. coli in things like water, food, and blood. And by cheap, we mean really cheap. The researchers say it costs less than $100 to build. The microscope has two ways of analyzing samples: a transmission mode and a reflection mode. The transmission mode is good for transparent media, like thin slices of a sample or clear liquids. In this case, the microscope's laser can easily penetrate and analyze microscopic objects. For denser, more solid samples the microscope uses holography to generate a 3-D image of the sample that can be beamed to remote computers for further analysis if necessary. In reflection mode, the microscope basically splits the laser beam using a mirror. It then uses one half...