A standard way for computing numerical reconstructions of digital holograms

Abstract

There exist a multitude of methods and processing steps for the numerical reconstruction of digital holograms. Because these are not standardized, most research groups follow their own best practices, making it challenging to compare numerical results across groups. Meanwhile, JPEG Pleno holography seeks to define a new standard for the compression of digital holograms. Numerical reconstructions are an essential tool in this research because they provide access to the holographically encoded 3D scenes. In this paper, we outline the available modules of the numerical reconstruction software developed for the purpose of this standardization. A software package was defined that is able to reconstruct all holograms of the JPEG Pleno digital hologram database, evaluating several core experiments. This includes Fresnel holograms recorded or generated in Fresnel or (lensless) Fourier geometries as well as near-field holograms, that require rigorous propagation through the angular spectrum method. Specific design choices are explained and highlighted. We believe that providing information on the current consensus on the numerical reconstruction software package will allow other research groups to replicate the results of JPEG Pleno and improve comparability of results.