Introduction

What is DryMass?

DryMass is a software for quantitative phase imaging (QPI) analysis with functionalities such as

  • extraction of meta data (e.g. wavelength, acquisition time) from experimental data files,
  • quantitative phase image background correction,
  • determination of dry mass for biological cells, or
  • extraction of refractive index and radius for spherical phase objects such as liquid droplets, microgel beads, or cells.

Quantitative phase imaging

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is a 2D imaging technique that quantifies the phase retardation of a wave traveling through a specimen. For instance, digital holographic microscopy (DHM) [KvB07] can be used to record the quantitative phase image of biological cells, yielding the optical density from which the dry mass or the refractive index (RI) can be computed. Another example is electron holography [LL02] which can be used to visualize p-n junctions due to the different electronic potentials in the doped semiconductors. DryMass was designed for the analysis of single cells (typical units for distance [µm] and wavelength [nm]), but the concepts used apply to both methods.