High-resolution digital transmission microscopy—a Fourier holography approach

A spherical reference field is used to construct a digital holographic system with a demonstrated resolution up to 228 line pairs per mm. The reference field originates from a GRIN lens placed 1 mm from the illuminated object. This allows the use of a standard sensor to record the hologram with the required numerical aperture. The image is determined by evaluation of the Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction integral that relates the object field in the image plane to the object field in the sensor plane. Experimental results are given for two charge coupled device sensors and one complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor active pixel sensor.     

Potential of digital holography in particle measurement

This paper describes the potential power of digital holography in particle measurement and its expected development in the near future. In digital holography, image reconstruction is carried out numerically on a computer using observed hologram patterns and some quantitative information can be derived from the reconstructed images. In this paper, the basic concept and procedure of digital in-line holography are shown mainly for particle depth measurement and the performance test results obtained in numerical simulations and experiments are demonstrated to examine the potential of the present method.     

Objective evaluation of images reconstructed from digital in-line Fresnel holograms by using coherent background elimination

Quality of images reconstructed from in-line Fresnel holograms using elimination of a coherent background is quantitatively studied through computer simulation and experiment. The coherent background is digitally calculated by averaging an intensity of a recorded hologram. The results show that in spite of the fact that virtual image is still intact, the background elimination can resolve images with quality comparable to the phase-shifting technique.     

Parallel-quadrature phase-shifting digital holographic microscopy using polarization beam splitter

We present a digital holography microscopy technique based on a parallel-quadrature phase-shifting method. Two π/2 phase-shifted holograms are recorded simultaneously using polarization phase-shifting principle, slightly off-axis recording geometry, and two identical CCD sensors. The parallel phase-shifting is realized by combining circularly polarized object beam with a 45° degree polarized reference beam through a polarizing beam splitter. DC term is eliminated by subtracting the two holograms from each other and the object information is reconstructed after selecting the frequency spectrum of the real image. Both amplitude and phase object reconstruction results are presented. Simultaneous recording eliminates phase errors caused by mechanical vibrations and air turbulences. The slightly off-axis recording geometry with phase-shifting allows a much larger dimension of the spatial filter for reconstruction of the object information. This leads to better reconstruction capability than traditional off-axis holography.     

Elimination of zero-order diffraction in digital off-axis holography

A simple experimental method of eliminating zero-order diffraction in the reconstructed image of off-axis digital holography is presented. Holographic diffraction grating acting as a beam splitter, an off-axis holography system is formed. The holograms of object with different recording parameters are obtained by adjusting the reflecting mirror in the recording optical system to vary the incidence orientation of the object beam in CCD to introduce a phase shift. The zero-order image can be eliminated by numerically processing the holograms of object with different recording parameters. The theoretical analyses have been done in detail and the experimental results are also given. The zero-order image eliminated, the area of reconstructed image increases remarkably, the image quality can then be significantly improved and the better resolution obtained. The experimental results show that the method presented in this paper is feasible, simple in optical system and easy in operation and data processing.     

菲涅尔数字全息的脉冲响应

数字全息是用CCD记录全息图并用计算机数值重建全息像的一种全息新方法.在数字全息中,通过对不同记录参数下记录的全息图的数值处理,可以消除零级光和共轭光,从而将数字全息系统看作是一个线性系统.本文依据全息理论和付里叶频谱分析,对菲涅尔数字全息系统的脉冲响应和分辨本领进行了理论分析.结果表明,在矩形等间隔抽样的情形下,菲涅尔数字全息的脉冲响应是由CCD有限大小的孔径衍射斑调制的矩形函数;菲涅尔数字全息的分辨率由CCD的孔径尺寸决定;由于CCD像素具有一定的大小,使得点光源的像发生弥散.     

Studies on aperture synthesis in digital Fresnel holography

Aperture synthesis can improve image resolution in digital holography by increasing the numerical aperture of the system. In this paper, we show that both the lateral resolution and image field of view can be enhanced at the same time using a more general Fresnel holography setup and hologram stitching. The impact of aperture synthesis on the lateral resolution is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In the experiment, the synthesis is executed by moving the compact digital holographic system in two directions. Nine holograms are recorded and stitched into one hologram. The reconstruction results show that expanding aperture improves the lateral resolution. The lensless Fresnel holography used in this paper is demonstrated to have the ability to provide a larger numerical aperture and can compress the object spectrum in recording process.     

Minimalist and convenient mode changing off-axis digital holography

Basic issues in creating practical setups for off-axis digital holography involve having (i) convenient switch of imaging in the transmission and reflection modes, (ii) reduction in stray light reflection, (iii) immunity against environmental noise, and (iv) efficient usage of light output from the laser source. These exigencies are addressed using a free-space setup described here that applies a minimal number of optical components. Experimental results are presented to verify the approach.     

Reduction of speckle noise in digital holography by using digital image processing

A fundamental problem in optical and digital holography is the presence of speckle noise in the reconstruction process. Many approaches have been carried out in order to overcome such a problem ranging from modifying the spatial coherence of the illumination (optical techniques) to image processing techniques (digital techniques). This work shows the merged use of digital image processing techniques in order to reduce the speckle noise in digital reconstruction of optically recorded Fresnel's holograms. The proposed filtering techniques are illustrated with experimental results.     

Phase reconstruction in lensless digital in-line holographic microscopy

The phase reconstruction in a digital in-line holographic microscopy is compared using two numerical reconstruction methods. The first method uses one Fourier transform and second one uses three Fourier transforms. It is shown that the latter method gives improved object phase reconstruction as compared to the former.     

Numerical reconstruction in in-line digital holography by translation of CCD position and gradient operator method

We propose an approach based on axial translation of a charge-coupled device (CCD) and gradient operator method for numerical reconstruction in in-line digital holography. The object wave in the hologram (or CCD) plane is determined using one position translation of CCD, and a phase-shifting device can be fully avoided. Gradient operator method is further applied to detect the focal plane of an object, and the object wave is reconstructed by an angular spectrum algorithm with the detected focal distance. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated by numerical simulations.     

Surface contouring by phase-shifting digital holography

Surface contouring by phase-shifting digital holography is proposed that provides surface height from a change of reconstructed object phases due to the tilt of object illumination. Surface height from a reference plane is directly obtained from the phase change. Its sensitivity depends on the tilt angle as well as on the initial incident angle. By proper selection of the angles we can derive surface height without phase unwrapping. The sensitivity can be enhanced by increasing the tilt angle. Then we need phase unwrapping that is sensitive to noise due to laser speckles in the reconstructed images. This noise could be suppressed by selecting phase values at points of the maximum product of amplitudes before and after the illumination change in the course of data reduction from 1024×1024 to 512×512 and by selecting paths for phase unwrapping by looking for the intensity maximum. The observed height resolution is 20 μm. Effects of numerical focusing have also been investigated. The present method has the same sensitivity as the fringe projection method, but it has larger measurement depth and is also applicable to the deformation measurement with the same arrangement.     

High resolution digital holography

In digital Fresnel holography, present specifications of charge-coupled device cameras require the incident beams to be quasi-parallel. That implies large speckle grain size and low lateral resolution in reconstructed images. Better lateral resolutions are demonstrated in our work, down to 8 μm, allowing the observation of sub-millimetre objects by digital holography. The experimental set-up built samples the incident light distribution with a definition of 500 pixels mm⁻¹. The maximum acceptable angle is then widened and the hologram recording and reconstruction distances are drastically reduced, as well as the speckle size. Interferometric holography was implemented for the measurement of the deformation of a sub-millimetre silicon cantilever and results in phase-contrasts imaging are also reported. The design of dedicated complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor active pixel sensor cameras is also discussed.     

四步相移数字全息中随机误差的抑制方法

提出一种在四步相移数字全息中消除随机相移误差及CCD噪声的方法。通过多次重复四步相移数字全息的实验过程,使得每一步的相移都有多幅全息图像与之对应,把每一步对应的多幅全息图像进行数学平均就会得到4幅全息均值图像。理论分析表明,使用这4幅全息均值图像进行数字全息的重建,可以得到精确的物光波的分布,有效地消除随机相移误差及CCD噪声的影响。计算机模拟结果表明:该方法有助于提高数字全息重建光场质量。     

散射光彩色数字全息光学系统及波面重建算法研究

令物体表面为散射面,参考光及重建光为球面波,详细研究了离轴数字全息物光场重建平面的光波场.导出物光、共轭物光及零级衍射光分布与光学系统参数的关系.根据彩色数字全息的特点,提出抑制零级衍射干扰的光学系统设计方法,并且对一种能够避免插值误差的波面重建算法进行了优化研究,给出了相应的实验证明.     

菲涅耳非相干数字全息大视场研究

菲涅尔非相干相关全息术(Fresnel incoherent correlation holography, FINCH)通过空间光调制器(spatial light modulator, SLM)将来自物点的光波分解为曲率半径不同的两束自相干光,干涉条纹由CCD记录.由于受限于SLM与CCD的像素数目及像素尺寸, FINCH技术与光学全息术相比记录视场要小得多.本文通过对FINCH系统的记录过程进行理论分析,给出了SLM所能记录的视场角,说明通过调控加载在SLM上的双透镜光轴中心,能够扩大SLM的有效直径从而将SLM的有效记录范围增大2.77倍,有效扩大了系统的记录视场.搭建了非相干光反射式数字全息记录系统并对理论分析进行了实验验证,结果表明:在SLM上依次加载不同光轴中心位置的双透镜掩模进行FINCH记录及再现,将得到的各子图像拼接融合可以得到高分辨率大视场图像,为菲涅尔非相干全息术在高分辨大视场显微成像的进一步应用提供了有力支撑.     

Methodology for analysis of displacement using digital holography

Digital holography is applied to make microdisplacement determination of a steel bar and an aluminum sheet. The displacement of aluminum sheet is made under immersion conditions in water and air. An experimental installation is presented for digital hologram registration with plane reference beam, using a CCD camera as detector. The “HOLODIG” computing system was developed for digital reconstruction of the image using the direct method, the intensity and phase image and interferograms were obtained. Taking into account the phase interferogram and making the unwrapping, the phase was determined for every point of the study surface. As examples of method application, the displacement of a square section steel bar, tested in air, and an aluminum sheet, tested in air and submerged in water, was determined. Experimental values of the displacement obtained agree with the applied ones. In the case of aluminum plate submerged in water, the magnitude of the measured displacement is proportional to water refraction index.     

A strong adaptable autofocusing approach of off-axis infrared digital holography under different quality conditions of holograms

In this paper, we present an innovative autofocusing criterion for the reconstruction of infrared digital holograms. This criterion has the advantages of fast, efficient and precision when determining the reconstruction distance of off-axis digital holography. This criterion is a mean-free high frequency calculation process. We focus on the problem of mean value drifting found in previous published methods and design our new approach to solve it. Unlike the previous methods perform well only with high quality holograms, our method is effective for both high and low quality holograms. Even when hologram is degraded by destructive interference, our method still performs well. This method helps to automatically determine the precise reconstruction distance, and we are sure that this technology can be applied in industrial applications in the future.     

Method for eliminating zero-order diffraction in lensless Fourier transform digital holography

A method to induce phase shifting in lensless Fourier of digital holography system is presented. In this method, by computer simulation and theoretical analysis on the technology to eliminate the influence of zero-order diffraction in force, it can be found that, a reference light induced in a random non-2π integral number of phase shifting shooting to get the second hologram, and wave reconstruction can be got by the difference value image of the two holograms. And, the method of different digital holography record system with different phase shifting should be used. In this paper, theoretical analyses have been done in detail to discuss the problems that exist in the unsuitable phase-shifting methods. Furthermore, some experiments have been done to prove the reliability of this method. This method can significantly improve the image quality and give better resolution of the reconstructed image.     

Joint approach of the sub-holograms in on-axis lensless Fourier phase-shifting synthetic aperture digital holography

In on-axis lensless Fourier phase-shifting synthetic aperture digital holography, to compose all of the phase-shifting sub-holograms to a large synthetic aperture digital hologram effectively, firstly, the cross-correlation algorithm of the object waves is presented to correct the joint misplacement of the sub-holograms. Secondly, to make the phase-shifting synchronization matching of different sequence phase-shifting holograms, the cross-correlation algorithm of the phase-shifting holograms is employed. Compared with the traditional cross-correlation algorithm of the sub-holograms, the proposed approach makes the joint precision of the sub-holograms reach sub-pixel accuracy, and the resolution of the reconstructed image is improved significantly. In general, the proposed approach is effective in restraining the quality degradation of the synthetic reconstructed image that comes from the joint misplacement of the sub-holograms and the phase-shifting non-synchronization of the phase-shifting holograms.