Speckle reduction by a rotating aperture at the fourier transform plane

Abstract

Statistical properties of the time-averaged speckle-reduced pattern at the image plane of a coherently illuminated uniform diffuse object are theoretically and experimentally studied. The diffuse object is assumed to be approximated by a deep random phase screen and zero-mean circular complex Gaussian statistics is also assumed to hold for the formation of speckles. The time-averaging process is performed by using a rotating aperture at the Fourier transform plane of the object. A theoretical study of the speckle reduction is conducted for a rotating Gaussian soft aperture at the Fourier transform plane. Expressions are analytically derived for the mean, autocorrelation function, power spectrum, and contrast of the time-averaged speckle pattern at the image plane. In particular, the contrast of the time-averaged speckle pattern is theoretically evaluated and its characteristics are discussed in detail. The theoretical results for the contrast are experimentally confirmed using a TV/film recording system. Excellent agreement between theoretical and experimental results is obtained.