Non-interferometric phase imaging by speckle correlation

In this short paper we introduce a non-interferometric alternative to Digital Holography for quantitative phase imaging. It is based on the correlation of speckled images acquired with and without the object present and phase is deduced from the deflection of light in areas of varying refractive index. Self-calibration is obtained by combining the correlation value with the image plane speckle movement. In this short paper, fundamentals of the technique is introduced and its sensitivity to different parameters in the set-up is discussed. It is also indicated how machine learning can be used to accelerate its performance.