Research Article

Single shot sub-micron lensless digital holographic microscopy

¹ University of Bremen, MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes and Faculty of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
² BIAS-Bremer Institut für angewandte Strahltechnik, Klagenfurter Str. 5, 28359 Bremen, Germany

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 23 October 2025
Accepted: 14 January 2026

Abstract

High-resolution lensless microscopy offers a compact and cost-effective alternative to traditional optical microscopy, with various applications such as biomedical imaging and wafer-level testing. This paper introduces a model-based understanding of how to exploit the physical properties of the wave field despite the limited sampling capabilities of digital cameras, providing insights into the true resolution potential of lensless holographic imaging systems. Through the inversion of the propagation operator between two differently scaled sampling grids in the camera and object planes, we present a diffraction-limited imaging approach using a single digital hologram. We validate the method through both single-shot as well as temporally phase-shifted measurements and demonstrate lensless sub-micron imaging in both reflection and transmission mode.