An easy and cheap way to use smartphones as a microscope

The evidence of widespread diseases (e.g. Malaria) requires microscopic examination and evaluation by health care professionals. We investigated easy and cheap ways to combine a smartphone with an optical head to take microscopic pictures. With this approach we achieved a resolution of around 360 line pairs per mm. Furthermore, we built an optical system which allows to use the smartphone as a phase contrast microscope. Moreover we created a setup to record a digital hologram. With these approaches it is possible to examine amplitude and phase objects. The optics mount is designed to be printed with a 3D-printer. The microscope is small and can be transported easily. Smartphone are all-around in developing countries. With the approaches mentioned above smartphones combined with a low cost optical head can improve global health care. Another field of application for such a smartphone microscope is the biology class or the university teaching. In this talk we present the optical design and the mechanical construction to use smartphones as a microscope for diagnostic purposes.