Abstract
Simultaneous non-invasive trapping and topography of erythrocytes by interferometric fringe projection profilometry has been presented. Sinusoidal fringes were generated with the help of compact Michelson interferometer (CMI) developed by coating a thin reflective layer (similar to 100 mu m) of Al2O3 on one face of a cubic beam splitter. An external mirror was mounted on XYZ translational stage to control the fringe frequency and orientation. Red He-Ne laser was used to generate the sinusoidal probe -interferogram using CMI to project onto the green-laser (cw) trapped healthy and deceased RBCs separately. Information coded reflected interferograms exhibits characteristic fringe-deviation with respect to probe-pattern for both the healthy and defective RBCs. Fourier transform analysis was adopted to retrieve the phase-map which can be exploited for topography, size determination and refractive-index of RBC. Refractive-index change is directly related with hemoglobin concentration of RBCs at any specific physiological state and hence information about health status and disease progression can be anticipated.