Polarization-sensitive Fourier ptychographic microscopy for high-resolution, large area birefringence imaging of petrographic thin sections

Abstract Polarization-sensitive Fourier ptychographic microscopy (ps-FPM) combines polarized light microscopy with Fourier ptychographic microscopy to image birefringent samples in high-resolution over a large field of view. Measurement of the anisotropy properties allows the samples to be viewed with greater contrast and to distinguish between sample regions that would otherwise be indistinguishable. In this work, ps-FPM is used to image birefringent petrographic thin sections to view the different crystal domains and to distinguish between the different minerals in the rock sample, a requirement for crystal domain classification and mineral identification. The system reported here achieves a resolution of 1.5 μm with a FOV of 9 mm 2 , far superior to traditional petrographic microscopes.