Common-path multimodal optical microscopy.

We have developed a common-path multimodal optical microscopy system that is capable of using a single optical source and a single camera to image amplitude, phase, and fluorescence features of a biological specimen. This is achieved by varying either contrast enhancement filters at the Fourier plane and/or neutral density/fluorescence filters in front of the CCD camera. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by obtaining brightfield, fluorescence, phase-contrast, spatially filtered, brightfield+fluorescence, phase+fluorescence, and edge-enhanced+fluorescence images of the same Drosophila embryo without the need for image registration and fusion. This comprehensive microscope has the capability of providing both structural and functional information and may be used for applications such as studying live-cell dynamics and in high throughput microscopy and automated microscopy.