Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A Fourier ptychographic imaging system employing embedded pupil function recovery, comprising:a variable illuminator configured to illuminate a sample at a plurality of oblique illumination incidence angles;an objective lens configured to filter light issuing from the sample based on its numerical aperture;a radiation detector configured to receive light filtered by the objective lens and capture a plurality of intensity images corresponding to the plurality of oblique illumination incidence angles; anda processor configured to iteratively and simultaneously update a pupil function and a separate sample spectrum, wherein the sample spectrum is updated iteratively for each illumination incidence angle at overlapping regions in the Fourier domain with Fourier transformed intensity image data, wherein the overlapping regions correspond to the plurality of illumination incidence angles and the numerical aperture of the objective lens. 2. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the processor further configured to inverse transform the updated sample spectrum to determine an image of the sample, wherein the image has a higher resolution than the captured intensity images. 3. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1,wherein the processor is further configured to determine an aberration from the updated pupil function; andfurther comprising a wavefront modulator configured to adaptively correct an incident wavefront based on the determined aberration. 4. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the objective lens has a numerical aperture between about 0.02 and 0.13. 5. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the objective lens has a numerical aperture of about 0.08. 6. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the variable illuminator comprises a plurality of discrete light elements, wherein the plurality of oblique illumination incidence angles are associated with different discrete light elements. 7. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the variable illuminator comprises a circular array of discrete light elements. 8. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 20% and 90% in area. 9. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 2% and 99.5% in area. 10. The Fourier ptychographic imaging system of claim 1, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by about 66% in area. 11. A method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery, the method comprising:illuminating a sample from a plurality of incidence angles using a variable illuminator;filtering light issuing from the sample using an optical element;capturing a plurality of variably-illuminated intensity image distributions of the sample using a radiation detector;simultaneously updating a pupil function and a separate sample spectrum, wherein the sample spectrum is updated in overlapping regions with Fourier transformed variably-illuminated intensity images measurements, wherein the overlapping regions corresponds to the plurality of incidence angles and the numerical aperture of the lens; andinverse Fourier transforming the recovered sample spectrum to recover an image having a higher resolution than the intensity images. 12. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, the method further comprising inverse transforming the updated sample spectrum to determine an image of the sample, wherein the image has a higher resolution than the captured intensity images. 13. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, the method further comprising:determining an aberration from the updated pupil function; andadaptively correcting for the determined aberration using a wavefront modulator. 14. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the objective lens has a numerical aperture between about 0.02 and 0.13. 15. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the objective lens has a numerical aperture of about 0.08. 16. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the variable illuminator comprises a circular array of discrete light elements. 17. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 20% and 90% in area. 18. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by between 2% and 99.5% in area. 19. The method of Fourier ptychographic imaging employing embedded pupil function recovery of claim 11, wherein the overlapping regions overlap by about 66% in area.