Diffractive all-optical computing for quantitative phase imaging

A method of performing quantitative phase imaging comprising:

• inputting an optical field of a phase object or sample containing a phase distribution or phase information into a diffractive Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) network comprising:
• one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layer(s) arranged in an optical path, each of the of optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layer(s) comprising a plurality of physical features formed on or within the one or more optically transmissive or reflective substrate layer(s) and having different transmission and/or reflection coefficients or parameters as a function of the lateral coordinates across each substrate layer, wherein the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layer(s) and the plurality of physical features thereon collectively define a trained mapping function between an input optical field from the phase object or sample to an output intensity image created by optical diffraction through the optically transmissive substrate layer(s) and/or diffraction from the reflective substrate layer(s);
• wherein the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layer(s) are designed during a digital training phase to define the plurality of physical features formed on or within the one or more optically transmissive or reflective substrate layer(s) such that the output intensity image reveals the quantitative phase information of the input optical field created by optical diffraction through the optically transmissive substrate layer(s) and/or from the reflective substrate layer(s);
• and
• capturing the output intensity image with an image sensor.