Cylindrical wave-based off-axis digital holography with long field of view

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Imaging Science

Background:

• Traditional off-axis digital holography (DH) methods face limitations in achieving a long field of view (FOV).
• Existing techniques often require complex optical setups or compromise image resolution to expand FOV.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a new off-axis DH method utilizing cylindrical optics to achieve an extended FOV.
• To demonstrate the theoretical and experimental feasibility of this novel approach for enhanced imaging.

Main Methods:

• A novel pre-magnification recording geometry using a cylindrical lens (CL) or cylindrical beam.
• Replacement of the conventional reference beam with a divergent cylindrical beam.
• Theoretical analysis and experimental validation of the proposed method.

Main Results:

• The cylindrical wave-based DH (CWDH) method enables one-dimensional pre-magnification of the object beam.
• The FOV in the orthogonal direction remains unaffected, satisfying bandwidth constraints.
• Experimental results confirm the significant expansion of the reconstructed image's FOV compared to traditional off-axis DH.

Conclusions:

• The CWDH method offers a distinct advantage in expanding the FOV of reconstructed images.
• This technique is particularly suitable for applications requiring a long FOV, such as imaging within microfluidic channels.
• The CWDH method represents a significant advancement in digital holographic imaging capabilities.