Patent ID: 8525992

Claim:
A method of measuring a relative phase of a bio-cell using a digital image sensor, the method comprising the steps of: firstly filtering a light emitted from a light source, using a first polarizer and a first wave plate, which are arranged in order on an optical path; exposing a bio-cell to the firstly filtered light; secondly filtering the light passing through the bio-cell, using a second wave plate and a second polarizer, which are arranged in order on the optical path; and sensing an intensity of the secondly filtered light, by each of pixels of an image sensor, wherein, as conditions of the second filtering are varied, optical properties of the bio-cell are calculated using the intensity of the light in a pixel-wise manner, wherein the first wave plate and the second wave plate are provided by using a quarter-wavelength plate, wherein the first wave plate and the second wave plate are positioned at 45° and 135° respectively to a polarization axis defined by the first polarizer, and wherein a Jones matrix of the optical properties calculated in a pixel-wise manner is as follows: [ E x E y ] = [ cos ⁢ ⁢ β - sin ⁢ ⁢ β sin ⁢ ⁢ β ⁢ cos ⁢ ⁢ β ] ⁡ [ 1 0 0 0 ] ⁡ [ cos ⁢ ⁢ β sin ⁢ ⁢ β - sin ⁢ ⁢ β cos ⁢ ⁢ β ] [ ⁢ cos ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) - sin ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) sin ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) cos ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) ] ⁢ [ ⁢ ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ π 4 0 0 ⅇ - ⅈ ⁢ π 4 ] ⁡ [ cos ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) sin ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) - sin ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) cos ⁡ ( 135 ⁢ ° ) ] × [ ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ δ 2 0 0 ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ δ 2 ] ⁡ [ cos ⁢ ⁢ 45 - sin ⁢ ⁢ 45 sin ⁢ ⁢ 45 cos ⁢ ⁢ 45 ] ⁢ [ ⁢ ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ π 4 0 0 ⅇ - ⅈ ⁢ π 4 ] ⁡ [ cos ⁢ ⁢ 45 sin ⁢ ⁢ 45 - sin ⁢ ⁢ 45 cos ⁢ ⁢ 45 ] ⁡ [ 0 1 ] ⁢ E 0 ⁢ ⅇ ⅈ ⁢ ⁢ ω ⁢ ⁢ t whereby E x and E y are intensities of the light respectively to x axis and y axis, β is a rotating angle of the second polarizer, δ is a phase delay by the bio-cell, E 0 is an amplitude of an initial light, ω is a frequency of the initial light.