Elimination of zero-order diffraction and conjugate image in off-axis digital holography

Abstract

The presence of zero-order diffraction and a conjugate image in digital holography essentially diminishes the quality of the reconstructed image. In this paper, a novel method that adopts numerical operation to eliminate the zero-order diffraction and conjugate image is presented. The whole process needs only one hologram and a complex finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter. The method of numerical elimination is simple; it filters the hologram directly in the spatial domain instead of in the frequency domain. The design of a complex finite impulse response filter is described in detail. The experimental results demonstrate that the operation can completely eliminate the zero-order diffraction and conjugate image and significantly enhance the quality of the reconstructed image.