Time-averaged photon-counting digital holography

Time-averaged holography has been using photo-emulsions (early stage) and digital photo-sensitive arrays (later) to record holograms. We extend the recording possibilities by utilizing a photon-counting camera, and we further investigate the possibility of obtaining accurate hologram reconstructions in rather severe experimental conditions. To achieve this, we derived an expression for fringe function comprising the main parameters affecting the hologram recording. Influence of the main parameters, namely the exposure time and the number of averaged holograms, is analyzed by simulations and experiments. It is demonstrated that taking long exposure times can be avoided by averaging over many holograms with the exposure times much shorter than the vibration cycle. Conditions in which signal-to-noise ratio in reconstructed holograms can be substantially increased are provided.