Experimental Demonstration of OpticalSectioning by Spatial Filtering and Its Possible Use in Transmission of...

A method of spatial filtering which allows one to obtain optical cross sections of a three-dimensional object is demonstrated. The essence of the method is to photograph the object, which is illuminated by a fine pattern of light, with a camera of limited depth of field. The fine pattern appears in focus on the photographic negative of a selected cross section of the object while the foreground and background parts of the object are blurred. The photographic transparency is then placed in a standard spatial filtering setup, and the desired cross section thus obtained. The optical sectioning technique for generating three-dimensional images will then be compared according to information density with holographic and fly's eye lenslet methods.