Holographic motion pictures of microscopic plankton

A high-speed cine-camera system utilizing holographic principles to circumvent the restrictive depth of field limitations of photomicrography is being used for behavioral studies of rapidly moving marine zooplankton. High resolution is achieved from small format, flexible 35-mm movie film by the development of a lens-assisted holocamera. The lens images subjects close to the film in the recording process in order to reduce flatness requirements of the film. Aberrations introduced by the lens are cancelled by positioning it in precisely the same relationship to the film during reconstruction as it occupied in recording. New alignment and pathlength matching techniques for complex holocameras were developed.