Virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality are beginning to transform the way we explore and acquire information from the macroscopic world around us. At the same time, recent advances in holographic microscopy are providing new tools for rapid 3D imaging of physical and biological phenomena occurring at the micron scale. Project ADMIRE combined these two emerging technologies into the first prototype of an AugmenteD MIcro-REality system for the immersive exploration and the quantitative analysis of three-dimensional processes at the micron scale. The core technology of our system is a three-axis holographic microscope (3DHM), a multi-axis/multi-color implementation of holographic microscopy. 3DHM provides an effective solution to the poor axial resolution of conventional in-line holographic microscopy allowing to obtain reliable and accurate 3D images with frame rates that can be higher than 100 Hz. These live reconstructions of 3D microscopic samples are rendered in real time on a VR headset connected to a client PC that is remotely connected to the 3DHM system through the internet. The user is “shrunk” a million times and virtually sent into a live 3D reconstruction of the real microscopic world contained in the glass slide. There he finds himself surrounded by micro-particles or moving cells that could be inspected from multiple directions and characterized by shape parameters or dynamical features obtained by means of simple and direct gestures.
Our system may be used as a research tool by several public and private institutions engaged in biomedical and clinical research, as well as in industrial research, contributing to develop new knowledge on dynamical processes at the micron scale. It can also be employed as a powerful educational tool by training institutions ranging from primary school to university, offering a unique way to disclose the “strange” physics of the world at the microscale. Finally our VR/AR-assisted digital holographic microscopy may provide an immersive and interactive tool for a cell based diagnosis of diseases correlated to the size, morphology and motility of living cells.
