Digital Holographic Recording Research Articles

Range selective digital holographic imaging of vibrating objects using FMCW lidar

The use of frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) chirped transmit and reference waveforms in digital holographic (DH) imaging has enabled range selectivity. By frequency shifting the reference beam to compensate for the typical FMCW lidar beat frequency associated with a particular range, a temporally stable holographic image is formed for objects at the selected range and coherently integrates on a short wave infrared (SWIR) sensor. For vibrating objects, longitudinal movements of the object greater than half of an optical wavelength during the exposure time of the sensor array induce phase shifts that can wash out the hologram. An analog feedback system was designed and constructed whereby a lidar subassembly provides real time phase compensation information to a DH subassembly in order to stabilize the range selective digital holographic recording of the object. The design and characterization of the feedback system, as well as the results demonstrating the performance for vibrating objects that move over 17 wavelengths during the sensor exposure, are discussed.

Fractional Fourier-transform off-axis digital holographic imaging

A fractional Fourier-transform digital holographic imaging method with resolution enhancement features is presented. In an optical configuration, an extended fractional Fourier-transform optical setup is set in the object arm of an off-axis digital holographic recording system to record a fractional Fourier-transform hologram via the optical interference of the fractional Fourier-transform wavefront of an object wave with a reference wave. For reconstruction imaging, the reconstruction approach for fractional Fourier-transform holograms is given. In the experiment, the fractional Fourier-transform digital holograms are recorded under the different recording parameters, and their amplitude images are effectively reconstructed. The imaging results demonstrate that the reconstruction-imaging resolution of fractional-order Fourier-transform holograms is obviously enhanced compared to that of conventional image-plane holograms. The presented fractional Fourier-transform digital holographic imaging with resolution enhancement and optical configuration flexibility provides, to our knowledge, a novel way for off-axis digital holographic imaging.

Geometric-Optical Model of Digital Holographic Particle Recording System and Features of Its Application

The paper proposes an equivalent optical scheme of an in-line digital holographic system for particle recording and a mathematical model that establishes a one-to-one correspondence between the dimensional and spatial parameters of a digital holographic image of a particle and the imaged particle itself. The values of the model coefficients used to determine the real size and longitudinal coordinate of a particle according to its holographic image are found by calibration. The model was tested in field and laboratory conditions to calibrate a submersible digital holographic camera designed to study plankton in its habitat. It was shown that four calibration measurements are sufficient enough to determine the model coefficients, and the developed design of the submersible digital holographic camera makes it possible to perform these measurements during the recording of each hologram. In addition, this neither requires data on the refractive index of the medium with particles nor on the parameters of the optical elements of the scheme. The paper presents the results of marine experiments in the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea, as well as in fresh water in laboratory conditions and in Lake Baikal. The error in measuring the particle size in seawater without the use of the model is 53.8%, while the error in determining their longitudinal coordinates is 79.3%. In fresh water, the same errors were 59% and 54.5%, respectively. The error in determining the position of a particle with the use of the designed mathematical model does not exceed 1.5%, and the error in determining the size is 4.8%. The model is sensitive to changes in the optical properties of the medium, so it is necessary to perform calibration in each water area, and one calibration is quite sufficient within the same water area. At the same time, the developed design of the submersible holographic camera allows, if necessary, calibration at each holographing of the medium volume with particles.

Real-time noise-free inline self-interference incoherent digital holography with temporal geometric phase multiplexing

In this paper, we propose a real-time incoherent digital holographic (IDH) recording system free from bias and twin-image noises. A motionless three-step polarization-encoded phase-shifter operating at 99 Hz is realized with two electrically controllable birefringence-mode liquid crystal cells operating in tandem with a geometric phase lens and polarizers. Based on the proposed optical configuration, a coaxial straight-line self-interference IDH recording system is devised. Notably, the elimination of bias and twin-image noise from three phase-shifted images is demonstrated as a proof of concept. Moreover, complex-valued holographic video acquisitions with a resolution greater than 20 megapixels are demonstrated, with an effective acquisition frequency of 33 Hz.

Morphology and position measurement of irregular opaque particle with digital holography of side scattering

Morphology measurement is essential for a better understanding of irregular particle dynamics. Digital holography of side scattering is applied to measure the morphology and 3D position of pulverized coal particles. The digital holographic recording of particle side scattering is modelled and the formula is verified by experiments. A side scattering holography system is established to record the hologram of pulverized coal particles. The hologram of particles with several scatterers has uneven chirp fringes which is mainly influenced by scatterer shape, while the hologram of particles with multiple scatterers is a superposition of single scatterer fringes with a speckle background which is influenced by both scatterer shape and location. The Moiré pattern which appears easily in digital holography of side scattering is also analyzed. The proposed technique is validated by in-line holography and is proven to have an advantage in the identification of irregular particle morphological and surface features simultaneously.

Polarization holographic recording of vortex diffractive optical elements on azopolymer thin films and 3D analysis via phase-shifting digital holographic microscopy.

Direct fabrication of complex diffractive optical elements (DOEs) on photosensitive thin films is of critical importance for the development of advanced optical instruments. In this paper, we design and investigate DOEs capable of generating optical vortices. Analog and digital approaches for one-step polarization holographic recording of vortex DOEs on new carbazole-based azopolymer thin films are described. First configuration involves analog polarization holographic recording using a vortex phase retarder and has as a result the DOE producing a diffraction pattern with phase singularities aligned in a single line. Similar diffraction picture is achieved by the single-beam digital holographic recording setup with an integrated spatial light modulator. In the third system, the implemented double-beam digital polarization holographic recording setup yields simultaneously a spatial multiplexed vortex pattern. Diffraction efficiency evolution of these three types of DOEs are monitored and compared. The phase-shifting digital holographic microscope with an electrically controlled liquid crystal variable retarder is applied to investigate the phase and surface topography of the inscribed diffractive optical elements. The comparison between the digital and analog micro-patterning techniques contributes new evidence to limited data on the influence of the analog and digital generation of the spiral wavefront on the performance of vortex DOEs.

Simulation of digital holographic recording and reconstruction using a generalized matrix method.

In recent years, research efforts in the field of digital holography have expanded significantly, due to the ability to obtain high-resolution intensity and phase images. The information contained in these images have become of great interest to the machine learning community, with applications spanning a wide portfolio of research areas, including bioengineering. In this work, we seek to demonstrate a high-fidelity simulation of holographic recording. By accurately and numerically simulating the propagation of a coherent light source through a series of optical elements and the object itself, we accurately predict the optical interference of the object and reference wave at the recording plane, including diffraction effects, aberrations, and speckle. We show that the optical transformation that predicts the complex field at the recording plane can be generalized for arbitrary holographic recording configurations using a matrix method. In addition, we provide a detailed description of digital phase reconstruction and aberration compensation for a variety of off-axis holographic configurations. Reconstruction errors are presented for the various holographic recording geometries and complex field objects. While the primary objective of this work is not to evaluate phase reconstruction approaches, the reconstruction of simulated holograms provides validation of the generalized simulation method. The long-term goal of this work is that the generalized holographic simulation motivates the use of phase reconstruction of the simulated holograms to populate databases for training machine-learning algorithms aimed at classifying relevant objects recorded through a variety of holographic setups.

Polarization holographic microscope slide for birefringence imaging of anisotropic samples in microfluidics.

Birefringence is an important optical property of anisotropic materials arising from anisotropies of tissue microstructures. Birefringence parameters have been found to be important to understand optical anisotropic architecture of many materials and polarization imaging has been applied in many researches in the field of biology and medicine. Here, we propose a scheme to miniaturize a double-channel polarization holographic interferometer optics to create a polarization holographic microscope slide (P-HMS) suitable for integrating with microfluidic lab-on-a-chip (LoC) systems. Based on the P-HMS combined with a simple reconstruction algorithm described in the paper, we can not only simultaneously realize holographic imaging of two orthogonal polarization components of dynamic samples in a microfluidic channel but also quantitative measurement of 2D birefringence information, both including the birefringence phase retardation and optic-axis orientation. This chip interferometer allows for off-axis double-channel polarization digital holographic recording using only a single illumination beam without need of any beam splitter or mirror. Its quasi-common path configuration and self-aligned design also make it tolerant to vibrations and misalignment. This work about the P-HMS could play a positive role in promoting the application of birefringence imaging in microfluidic LoC technology.

Sectioning with edge extraction in optical incoherent imaging processing

Employing a single-pixel digital holographic recording technique called optical scanning holography (OSH), we accomplish the formidable task of sectioning with edge extraction in three-dimensional (3D) optical incoherent imaging. OSH is a special variant of generalized two-pupil heterodyning image processing, where one of the pupils used is a delta function with the other being a uniform function. In this study, we investigate the use of an annular pupil and a random-phase pupil for edge extraction during sectioning of a 3-D object. Novel simulation results indicate excellent edge extraction of a multi-section object with good sectioning capability, i.e., with each focused edge-extracted section out-of-focused haze has been eliminated.

Michelson-interferometric-configuration-based incoherent digital holography with a geometric phase shifter

The phase-shifting method is a simple and efficient approach to extract complex hologram information free of bias and twin-image noise. In this study, the geometric phase-shifting method is utilized for a self-interference incoherent digital holographic recording system based on the Michelson-type interferometer. The phase-shifting module consists of a horizontal polarizer, and two achromatic quarter-wave plates are employed inside the interferometer, replacing conventional phase-shifting devices, such as the piezo-actuated mirror. Since the phase-shifting amount of the introduced method herein is theoretical, regardless of the input wavelength, the simultaneous recording of step-wise phase-shifted interferograms for different color channels is available. Therefore, the multi-color hologram recording is achieved with fewer numbers of exposures. The demonstration of multi-color hologram recording and reconstruction are presented to validate the proposed idea.

Single-shot Fresnel incoherent digital holography based on geometric phase lens

ABSTRACTSingle-shot and incoherent imaging are two important properties of digital holography that can extend its application range. In this study, a simple, compact, in-line Fresnel incoherent digital holographic recording system is proposed that is capable of single-shot and three-dimensional imaging. A geometric phase lens is used as the common-path beam splitter based on its special wave separation property. Parallel phase-shifting holography is used to achieve single-shot operation with the use of a polarization imaging camera together with space-division multiplexing. The capabilities of the proposed technique are experimentally confirmed by imaging two standard test charts based on a compact setup.

Digital holographic testing of the optical fiber at welding area

A method to analyse of optical fibers inhomogeneity in welding junction using digital holography is proposed. The method utilizes lens-less Gabor scheme for recording of a digital hologram with numerical reconstruction by angular spectrum approach. Qualitative image analysis applied on the intensity distribution of specimen after hologram reconstruction enables to evaluate the structural defects inside the fiber core and cladding after welding procedure, which are not observable with conventional microscopy. The opportunities of presented method were approved with a wavelength-division multiplexing fibers of known defects introduced by axial misalignment of welded parts. A compact in-line digital holographic recording set-up for express and robust optical fiber analysis was developed through its application to a welding quality testing. It is shown how the value of axial misalignment of welding fibers lead to a variation of artificial intensity distribution around the joint in reconstructed image.

A methodology for the digital reconstruction of an interferogram, a schlieren image, or a shadowgram from a single digital holographic recording.

This study presents an optical assembly and digital reconstruction method that is based on digital holography for characterizing transparent objects. The image-plane optical setup is based on a versatile Mach-Zehnder interferometer for the formation of controlled parallel fringe patterns, of tens micrometers of separations or less. The numerical reconstruction of the propagated wavefront by the hologram is performed by the Fresnel-Kirchhoff transform, and it is used of three ways: (a) interferometric phase reconstruction (as in interferometry) in the phase object position, (b) reconstruction of the wavefront amplitude at a determined distance from the object (shadowgraph technique), and (c) a composed digital reconstruction process of the wavefront amplitude, defined by a digital optical assembly for the selection of angular deflections produced by the phase object (schlieren technique). The resolving power of holographic reconstruction methodology proposed is determined by the sensitivity of hologram for detecting the interferometric phase. The fringe pattern of the hologram defines a minimum phase shift resolution of 0.15π rad. The scope of the technique is experimentally tested for a steady-state phase object.

Achromatic phase shifting self-interference incoherent digital holography using linear polarizer and geometric phase lens.

A simple Fresnel-type self-interference incoherent digital holographic recording system is proposed. The main part of the system consists of the two linear polarizers and geometric phase lens. The geometric phase lens is employed as a polarization selective common-path interferometer. One of the polarizers is rotated by the motor and serves as a phase-shifter with the geometric phase lens, to eliminate the bias and twin image noise. A topological phase is obtained by the relative angle between the polarizer and geometric phase lens. Since this phase shifting method does not depend on the change of the optical path length, the phase shifting performance is almost constant in the broad spectral range. Using the proposed achromatic phase shifting method, a simultaneous three-color phase shifting digital hologram recording under the incoherent light source is demonstrated.

Robust digital holography design with monitoring setup and reference tilt error elimination.

A robust digital holography recording design is presented to complete the work of switching between in-line and off-axis recording methods. We precisely supervise the off-axis angle in off-axis holography, so that the original reconstructed image can be separated by a minimum off-axis angle. In the design, we can also monitor and remove the negative effects of the reference tilt error in phase-shifting digital holography. Compared with the conventional digital holographic recording configuration, a supervising unit is introduced to control and to monitor the angle between the reference beam and object beam. By the Fourier analysis on the interferograms recorded by the supervising unit and using the corresponding equations, the off-axis angle, which is crucial to reset the object image in holographic reconstruction, can be calculated accurately and then chosen for the best recording angle. For in-line holography, the error affecting the slight tilt of the reference beam on the retrieved object wavefront can be eliminated completely because the tilt angle is detected by another independent device. Furthermore, by using this advanced design, the experimental arrangement can be transformed flexibly from the in-line recording state to the off-axis state or from the latter one to the former without rebuilding the experimental setup. The availability and effectiveness of this design are verified by a series of experiments.

Digital holographic image fusion for a larger size object using compressive sensing

Digital holographic imaging fusion for a larger size object using compressive sensing is proposed. In this method, the high frequency component of the digital hologram under discrete wavelet transform is represented sparsely by using compressive sensing so that the data redundancy of digital holographic recording can be resolved validly, the low frequency component is retained totally to ensure the image quality, and multiple reconstructed images with different clear parts corresponding to a laser spot size are fused to realize the high quality reconstructed image of a larger size object. In addition, a filter combing high-pass and low-pass filters is designed to remove the zero-order term from a digital hologram effectively. The digital holographic experimental setup based on off-axis Fresnel digital holography was constructed. The feasible and comparative experiments were carried out. The fused image was evaluated by using the Tamura texture features. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can improve the processing efficiency and visual characteristics of the fused image and enlarge the size of the measured object effectively.

Coherence experiments in single-pixel digital holography

In optical scanning holography (OSH), the coherence properties of the acquired holograms depend on the single-pixel size, i.e., the active area of the photodetector. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we have demonstrated coherent, partial coherent, and incoherent three-dimensional (3D) imaging by experiment in such a single-pixel digital holographic recording system. We have found, for the incoherent mode of OSH, in which the detector of the largest active area is applied, the 3D location of a diffusely reflecting object can be successfully retrieved without speckle noise. For the partial coherent mode employing a smaller pixel size of the detector, significant speckles and randomly distributed bright spots appear among the reconstructed images. For the coherent mode of OSH when the size of the pixel is vanishingly small, the bright spots disappear. However, the speckle remains and the signal-to-noise ratio is low.

Quantitative phase-contrast imaging through a scattering media.

We report a new technique for the recovery of quantitative phase and amplitude information of an object hidden behind a scattering medium. Two-point intensity correlation measurement together with digital holography principles are utilized for this purpose. The hologram information of the object and a reference beam is scrambled by the presence of a scattering medium in its path. A direct digital holographic recording of this scattered light does not lead to the reconstruction of actual object information. We propose the idea of recovering this hologram information from the spatially fluctuating field of a laser speckle pattern using the intensity correlation, and subsequently apply digital reconstruction of the hologram for recovery of quantitative phase and amplitude information of objects hidden by a random diffuser.

Optical image encoding based on digital holographic recording on polarization state of vector wave

We propose and analyze a compact optical image encoder based on the principle of digital holographic recording on the polarization state of a vector wave. The optical architecture is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with in-line digital holographic recording mechanism. The original image is represented by distinct polarization states of elliptically polarized light. This state of polarization distribution is scrambled and then recorded by a two-step digital polarization holography method with random phase distributed reference wave. Introduction of a rotation key in the object arm and phase keys in the reference arm can achieve the randomization of plaintext. Statistical property of cyphertext is analyzed from confusion and diffusion point of view. Fault tolerance and key sensitivity of the proposed approach are also investigated. A chosen plaintext attack on the proposed algorithm exhibits its high security level. Simulation results that support the theoretical analysis are presented.

Single-exposure approach for expanding the sampled area of a dynamic process by digital holography with combined multiplexing

In this paper, an approach for expanding the sampled area of a dynamic process by digital holography is reported, where angular, polarization and wavelength multiplexing are applied to record different regions of the sample on a series of sub-holograms overlapped in a single frame of the charge-coupled device. This approach based on a single exposure has special potential for the digital holographic recording of dynamic processes.