Three-dimensional subpixel estimation in holographic position measurement of an optically trapped nanoparticle

Akira Sato, Quang Duc Pham, Satoshi Hasegawa, and Yoshio Hayasaki

We propose three-dimensional (3D) subpixel estimation in the position measurement of a nanoparticle held in optical tweezers in water by using an in-line, low-coherence digital holographic microscope. The 3D subpixel estimation was performed with the addition of axial subpixel estimation to the lateral subpixel estimation introduced in our previous work [Appl. Opt. 50, H183 (2011)]. The axial subpixel estimation allowed the step length in the diffraction calculation of a hologram to be increased to ∼20  nm while keeping the axial resolution of ∼3  nm. This drastically decreased the computation time of the diffraction calculation to less than 10% of the two-dimensional subpixel estimation.
DOI