Fig. 1: Schematic of quantitative light-field microscopy (QLFM).

a Experimental setup of our QLFM system with a simple microlens array (MLA) inserted at the image plane for snapshot phase-space measurements. M mirror, TL tube lens, sCMOS (scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) camera. b Concept of the multiscale model. Incomplete space used in the reconstruction of traditional LFM results in strong background noises and loss of quantitative properties in complicated environments. We apply different sampling rates in 3D based on the effective resolution of LFM at different axial planes to model a large volume for background rejection with an orders-of-magnitude reduction in computational costs. c Schematic of the multiscale scattering model. We differentiate the multiple-scattered photons from native emission fluorescence in the multislice model based on the first Born approximation to retrieve 3D fluorescence quantitatively in deep tissue. d Comparisons between traditional LFM and QLFM by imaging the same GFP-labeled B16 tumor spheroid. With a more accurate physics model to describe the imaging process, QLFM can separate the spatially nonuniform background and scattered photons from native 3D emission fluorescence, facilitating computational optical sectioning. Scale bars, 30 μm.