Chapter10:Off-AxisLeith&UpatnieksHolograms

Manyoftheshortcomingsofin-lineGaborhologramshavebeenovercomeby
goingtoanoff-axisgeometrythatallowsthevariousimagecomponentstobe
separated,andalsoallowedopaquesubjectstobefront-illuminated. These
discoveriesweremadebyEmmettLeithandJurisUpatnieks,workingatthe
RadarandOpticsLaboftheUniversityofMichigansWillowRunLaboratories.
Theywereworkingonopticaldataprocessingforahighlysecretnewformof
side-lookingradarwhentheyfoundthattheirimageswerethree-dimensional;
theyhadrediscoveredGaborsideasaboutholography,astheyquicklyrealized.
Around1962,thefirstcommercialhelium-neonlasersbecameavailableand
LeithandUpatnieksstartedmakingmoreambitiousholograms,slowlymoving
thereferencebeamofftothesideanddividingthelaserbeamtoilluminatethe
object1,2. Finally,theymadesomehologramsbigenough(100 mmx125 mm)
tobevisiblewithbotheyes,andastonishedeveryoneattheannualmeetingof
theOpticalSocietyofAmericain1964withanincrediblyvividhologramofa
brassmodelofasteamlocomotive3.
Atypicalsetupisasshowninthemargin. Mostofthelightgoesthroughthe
beam-splittertoilluminatetheobject,andthediffuselyreflectedlight,the
objectbeam,strikesthephoto-sensitiveplate. Ifthatwereallthereweretoit,
wewouldjustgetafoggedplate. However,arelativelysmallamountoflaser
lightisreflectedofftobeexpandedtoformthereferencebeam,which
overlapstheobjectbeamattheplatetoproducetheholographicinterference
pattern. Afterexposureandprocessing,theplate(nowcalledthehologram)is
putbackinplace,andilluminatedwithexpandedlaserlight,usuallywiththe
sameangleanddivergenceasthereferencebeam. Diffractionofthe
illuminationbeamproducesseveralwavefrontcomponents,includingonethat
reproducesthewavesfromtheobjectwhencethe3-Dimagereconstruction.
Thevariouscomponentsarenowseparatedbyanglescomparabletothe
referencebeamangle,sothattheynolongeroverlapandaclearwindow-like
viewofthesceneisavailable.
Implicationsofoff-axisholography:Thedramaticincreaseoftheanglebetween
thereferenceandobjectbeamshasseveralimportantconsequences:
separationofimageterms-

Becausethereisafairlylargeanglebetweentheobjectandreferencebeam,the

conjugateimagewillbewell-separatedfromthetrueimage,andmayevenbe

evanescent. Also,thestraight-throughbeam,thezero-ordercomponent,will

probablynotfallintotheviewerseyes. Theabilitytoclearlyseeahigh-

contrast,high-resolutionimageinvivid3-Dchangedpeoplesinterestin

holographyliterallyovernight.

muchfinerfringesThelargeaverageanglemeansthattheinterferencefringeswillbemuchfiner,
typicallymorethan1000fringes/mm2. Atypicalphotographicfilmcanresolve
detailsuptoaround100cy/mm2,soultra-fine-grainedfilmsarerequiredfor
holography. Typicalholographicmaterialshavegrainsaveraging35 nmin
diameter,comparedto1000 nmforconventionalphotofilms(avolumeratioof
oneto23,000!). Unfortunately,thesensitivityofemulsionsdropsquicklywith
decreasinggrainsize,andtheequivalentASAratingofthe8E75-HDemulsion
weuseisabout0.001. Thatmeansthattheexposuretimeswillbequitelong,
usuallyuptotensecondsandsometimesmuchlonger.
Anotherresultisthatthefringeswillbeclosertoeachother(amicronorso
apart)thantheemulsionlayeristhick(fivetosevenmicrons,typically),sothat
volumediffractioneffectscanbecomenoticeable. Forthemostpart,this
amountstoamodestsensitivitytothedirectionofillumination,butitalso
allowshigherdiffractionefficienciestobereachedwithproperprocessing. At
thesametime,smalldefectsinprocessing(especiallyduringdrying)become
apparentiftheycausemechanicalshearingintheemulsion,andadistortionof
thevenetian-blind-likefringestructures.
S.A.Benton 2002 (printed2/7/02)

greaterexposurestabilityrequired-

Thefinerfringesmeanthattherecordingmaterialmuststandstilltowithin

muchhighertolerancesduringtheexposure. Andthelowersensitivity

(comparedtolowerresolutionemulsions)meansthatthoseexposureswillbe

fairlylong. Inaddition,becausethebeampathsareseparatedbythe

beamsplitter,vibrationsofthemirrorsarenotcanceledoutinthetwobeams,so

thatthesetupismorevulnerabletonoiseandshocks. Also,anyelementthatis

reflectingabeam(includingtheobject!)needmoveonlyone-quarter

wavelengthtoproduceashiftoffringepositionofone-halfcycle,whichwashes

outthefringesduringexposure.

frontalilluminationofobjects-

Twomoreissuescomeupbecausewearereflectinglightfromfairlydeep

groupsofordinarydiffusely-reflectingobjects:

coherencelength:
Ifthelengthsoftheobjectandreferencebeampathsarematchedforlight
reflectingfromthefrontoftheobject,theywillbemismatchedforlightfrom
therearbydoublethedepthofthescene. Thisdistancemaybegreaterthanthe
coherencelengthofthelightfromtheparticularlaserused,whichmaybe
onlyacentimeterortwo. Also,thesteepreferencebeamanglemeansthatthe
lengthofthereferencebeamwillalsovaryacrossthewidthoftheplate.
depolarization:
Interferencehappensonlybetweensimilarly-polarizedbeams;theelectricfields
havetobeparallelinordertoaddorsubtract. Diffusereflection(suchasfrom
mattepaint)scramblesthepolarizationofabeamsothathalfoftheobject
lightsimplyfogstheplate,andislosttotheholographicexposure.

LASER

beamratioeffectsBecausewecanusuallyadjustthereflection:transmissionsplitratioofthe
beamsplitter,wecanadjusttheratioofthereference-to-objectbeamintensities,
K,toanynumberwedesire. Thisallowsustoincreasethediffractionefficiency
ofthehologram(thebrightnessoftheimage)moreorlessatwill,uptothe
maximumallowedbytheplateandprocessing. Typically,wewilluseaKof
between5and10. Thiswillproducediffractionefficienciesofupto20%with
bleachprocessing. However,astheobjectbeamintensityisraisedrelativeto
thereferencebeam(theKislowered),additionalnoisetermsarisecausedby
objectself-interference. Theygrowasthethirdpowerofthediffraction
efficiency,andreductionoftheimagecontrastisoftenthepracticallimiton
reducingK. Also,becauseonlyasmallfractionoftheobjectlightiscaptured
bytheplate,increasingthebeamsplittotheobjectincreaseslightwastage,and
therebyincreasestheexposuretimesignificantly. Longexposuretimesoften
producedimholograms,duetomechanicalcreepinthesystem,whichdefeats
thepurposeofdecreasingtheK!

-p.2-

ax
of
f-

relationtoin-lineholography:

CarefulobserversinLab #4willhavealreadynoticedsomeofthefeaturesof

off-axistransmissionholographyneartheedgesoftheirin-lineGabor

holograms. Attheedgesoftheplate,theanglebetweenbeamsfromtheobjects

andtheunscatteredreferencebeamislargeenoughtoseparatethevariousother

realand/orvirtualimagessothateachmaybeseenmoreorlessindividually.

Thepricewasa(likely)drop-offindiffractionefficiencycorrespondingtothe

finerfringepattern(recallthatthetablewasnotfloating),andagreaterblurring

inwhite-lightviewing. IfyouimaginetiltingaplatethatisfarfromtheZFPof

is

higherilluminationbandwidthsensitivity:
Althoughgoingoff-axisincreasesthesensitivitytosourcespectralbandwidth
(becauseweareseeingthespectralblurmorenearlysideways),italsodecreases
thesensistivitytoverticalsourcesizeafeaturethatwillbecomeusefulwith
white-lightviewedholograms. However,itisonlyacoseffect,whichisnot
verystrong.

in-liner

aGaborhologram,youhaveanoff-axishologram(exceptforthebeam-split
separationofthereferencebeamandobjectilluminationbeam). So,therereally
arenonewphysicsconceptsinvolvedhere,buttheirimplicationsbecomequite
different.
Interferenceanddiffractioninoff-axisholograms
Weshouldbeginbygoingthroughthesameprocessthatwedidfortheon-axis
hologram:examinethephasefootprintsofthetwowavesinvolved(withasingle
pointservingasastand-inforthe3-Dobject),andgoingonthroughthe
interferencepatternandthetransmittance,addtheillumination,andexaminethe
outputtermsforlikelysuspects. Instead,wewillinvokethemasterphase
equationofholographyasashort-cut.
\

Webeginbydefiningterms. Thereferencebeamcomesinatsomeangle
(positiveinthisexample,forconvenience),andtheobjectbeamwillbeonaxis.
Asarule,theradiusofcurvatureofthereferencebeamwillbemuchlargerthan
thatoftheobjectbeam,butthisneednotnecessarilybethecaseaslongasthe
intensityofthereferencebeamisfairlyuniformacrosstheplate.

Robj

ref
z

phasefootprintoftheoutputwaves:
Thephasefootprint(thefirstfewterms,anyway)ofanoff-axissphericalwave
wasdescribedinChap. 9(Eq. 3),andinthecurrentvernaculartranslatestobe:

cos 2 ref 2
2
1 2
ref (x, y) = 0 +
sin ref x +
x +
y .

1
1 R ref
R ref

(1)

Bycomparison,thephasefootprintofanon-axispointobjectwaveshouldlook
familiarbynow(notethatcos2obj=1):

obj( x, y) = 1 +

x 2 + y2 .
1 R obj

(2)

Allthatwelackistheilluminationbeam,whichwillagainbeanoff-axis
sphericalwave,withaphasefootprintofthesamegeneralformasthereference
wave:

ill (x, y) = 2 +

cos 2 ill 2
2
1 2
sin ill x +
x +
y .
2
2 R ill
R ill

(3)

Nowwewillinvokethefundamentalphase-additionlawofholography,first
revealedinCh. 7(PlatonicHolography):

out,m ( x, y) = m obj (x, y) ref ( x, y) + ill (x, y) ,

(4)

whereeachoftheoutputwaveshasitsownangleofinclinationandradiusof
curvature,

out,m (x, y) = +
3

cos 2 out 2
2
1
sin out x +
x +
y2 .

2
2 R out, x
R out, y

(5)

Nowitisonlynecessarytoseparatelymatchthecoefficientsofthelinearterms
inx,andthequadratictermsinxandy(wedonotbotherwiththeconstantphase
terms,ofcourse). Thisproducestheresultsthatcharacterizetheoutputwave:

sin out,m = m 2 sin obj = 0 sin ref + sin ill

(6)
1

((

cos 2 out,m
R out,m, x

cos 2 ref cos 2 ill

1
+
=m 2

1 R obj
R ref
R ill

1
1
1
+
=m 2

R out,m, y
1 R obj R ref R ill
1

-p.3-

(7)

(8)

Rref

Notethatthesearejustourfamiliarsinand1/Requations,plusanew
addition,thecosine-squared(over R)equationfortheradiusofcurvatureof
theoutputwaveinthex-direction.
perfectreconstruction:
Notethatifweagainhave2=1,Rill=Rref,andm=+1,weachieveperfect
reconstructioninthatout=0,andRout,x =Rout,y=Robj. Thatis,theimagewill
belocatedatthesameplaceastheobject,whichwillbetrueforeverypointin
theobject.
theconjugateimage:
Letsleaveeverythingabouttheilluminationthesame,butexaminethem=-1or
conjugateimageforamoment. Notethattheoutputbeamangleisnow

1 = sin 1 (2 sin ref ) ,

(9)

anddoesnotexistifthereferencebeamangleis30ormore(thatis,thewave
willbeevanescent). Thisistheusualcaseinoff-axisholography,astypical
referencebeamanglesare45or60. Wemightdeliberatelymakesome
shallow-reference-anglehologramsjusttomaketheconjugateimageeasierto
see. Instead,weusuallydisplaytheconjugateimagebyilluminatingthe
hologramfromtheothersideofthez-axis,withill-ref(sothattheconjugate
imagecomeson-axis),orbymoreoftenbyilluminatingthroughthebackofthe
plate,withill+ ref,(aboutwhichmuchmorewillbesaidinlaterchapters).
Iftheconjugateimageexistsatall,itisverylikelytobearealimage. Consider
firstthey-curvature(letting2=1andRill=Rrefandill=refforsimplicity):
Rref
Robj
R 1, y = Robj
.
Rref 2
R

obj

(10)

Aslongasthereferencepointismorethantwiceasfarawayastheobject,the
conjugateimagewillbereal. Otherwise,itwillbeavirtualimage,appearing
beyondtheilluminationsource. Butconsidernowthex-curvature:
Rref

R
obj
R1, x = cos 2 1 Robj
(11)
.
R
ref 2 cos 2 ref

obj
Notethatitis,ingeneral,verydifferentfromthey-curvature. Itmayevenhave
adifferentsign! Thisisourfirstrealtasteofthedreadedastigmatism,which
willplagueusfortherestofthesemester. Itmeansthattheraysthatare
convergingtothepoint-likereal-imagefocuswillcrossfirstinthex-direction,
andlaterinthey-direction(asarule). Ingeneral,wewillhavetotreatthexandy-focusingofthehologramseparatelyateachstep. Becausethex-direction
willoftenbevertical,wewillcallitthevertically-focusedimage(ortangential
focus,inconventionallens-designterms). They-focusisthenthehorizontallyfocusedimage(orsagittalfocus).
higher-orderimages:
Notethat,ifthem=1termisevanescent,them=+3termwillusuallybe
evanescenttoo,andallthehigher-orderterms(assumingthat out,+10). Some
ofthosehigherordertermscanbebroughtintoviewbymanipulatingthe
illuminationangleand/orwavelength. Theywillbeformedclosertothe
hologram,justasforthein-linehologram,andfollowthesamerules(forthe
wavefronty-curvature,anyway).

-p.4-

Rout,m

ill
z

Rill

imperfectreconstructionastigmatism!:
Consideringagainthem=+1ortrueimage,notethatiftheilluminationwave
isnotaperfectreplicaofthereferencewave(thatis,ithasadifferent
wavelength,angle,ordivergence),theoutputwavewillnotbeaperfectreplica
ofthesphericalwavecreatedbythepointobject. Infact,itwillprobablynotbe
asphericalwave! Forimperfectreconstructions,theradiiofcurvatureinthe
x-andy-directions,givenbyEqs. 7&8,willbedifferent,oftensignificantlyso.
Itisdifficulttogetusedtothinkingaboutastigmaticwavefrontsandastigmatic
raybundles,andwewillmakeseveraltriesatmakingitclear. Awavefrontwith
differentcurvaturesintwoperpendiculardirectionshasashapelikethatofthe
surfaceofafootballwhereapasserusuallygrabsit(nearthestitching). Ithasa
smallradiusofcurvaturearoundthewaistoftheball,andalongradiusof
curvaturefromendtoend. Ifyoutrytofocussuchawaveontoacardtosee
whatkindofsourceproducedit,youwouldfirstseeaverticalline,thenaround
circle,andthenahorizontallineasyoupassedthecardfromthefirstcenterof
curvaturetothesecond. Manypeoplehaveastigmatismintheireyes(usually
fromacorneathatisnon-spherical)andhaveacylindricallenscomponentin
theirprescriptiontoallowasharpfocustoberestored.
Thinkingaboutitinrayterms,apointsourceproducesastigmaticraybundle
(fromtheGreekforpin-prickortattoomark),abundleofraysthatseemtohave
passedthroughasinglepointinspace. Instead,anastigmatic(non-stigmatic)
raybundleseemstohavepassedthroughtwocrossedslitsthataresomewhat
separated. Thecurvatureineachofthetwodirectionsisequaltothedistanceto
theperpendicularslit,andtherayshavenocommonoriginpoint.
Wewillstruggletovisualizeastigmaticraybundlesinclassnotwodimensionalsketchcandothephenomenonjustice! Inadditiontoblurringa
focusedimage,theusualvisualeffectisthatthedistanceofanimageseemsto
bedifferentdependingonthedirectionwemoveourhead(side-to-sideversus
up-to-down).
Interestingly,therearesomeconditionsofimperfectilluminationthatdonot
produceastigmatism. Oneconditionthatiseasytoderiveisobtainedifthe
objectandimageareperpendiculartotheplateandif
sin 2 ill sin 2 ref
.
(12)
=
Rill
Rref
Anothercase,ofsomepracticalinterestlateron,occurswhenonlythedistance
totheilluminationsourcechanges. Iftheobjectandimageanglesareequaland
oppositetothereferenceandilluminationangles(alsoequal),thentherewillbe
noastigmatismforanypairofreferenceandilluminationdistances! Thatisto
say,allofthecos2termsinEq. 7areequal,andsodivideout.
Ifyouareaphotographer,youmayalsohavecomeacrosslensescalled
anastigmats. ThatnamecomesfromtheGreekforagainandpin-prickor
point-like,whichisonlytosaythatthelensesclaimtoproduceaparticularly
sharpspherical-wavefocus.
Astigmatismwillbeamuchstrongereffectwhenwedealwithrealimage
projectioninafewchapters,andwewillbestudyingitinsomedetail. Forthe
timebeing,wewillbecontentwiththeexamplesattheendofthechapter. Its
effectsinvirtualimagereconstructionareusuallysoweakastobealmost
invisible,butitisimportanttounderstandastigmatisminprinciple,evennow.
Strangely,itisasubjectthatisnotmuchdiscussedorappreciatedinthe
holographyliterature,althoughresearchersnoteditsexistenceearlyinthe
historyofthefield4,5.
Modelsforoff-axisholograms
Thethreeequationsthatdescribeimageformationbyanoff-axishologramseem
prettyopaqueatfirstglance,althoughtheywillgraduallybecomemorefamiliar
asthesemestermovesalong. Inthemeantime,itistemptingtodrawsome
simplephysicalmodelstodescribetheopticalpropertiesofoff-axisholograms.
Wewilllookattwosuchmodels;thefirstisadeliberatestrawman,
-p.5-

appealinglysimplebuthopelesslyinaccurate. Itcanbeusedonlyforavery
roughfirstjudgementofphysicalreasonability.
off-axiszoneplate:
Wehaveseenthattheoff-axishologramcanbeconsideredasanextremecase
ofanon-axishologram,atleastconceptually. Why,then,cantweapplythe
samemodelofaGaborzoneplate,usingsimpleraytracingthroughkey
landmarks,suchasthezero-frequencypoint,theZFP? Suchamodelmightlook
likethesketch,whichshowsacollimatedilluminationbeamat20,whichis
presumablythesameangleasthereferencebeam. Iftheobjectwas100 mm
fromtheplate,theZFPis36.4 mmabovetheaxis. Thedistancefromthe
hologramtotherealandvirtualfocishouldbeequalincollimatedillumination,
sotherealimagelocationispredictedtobe(x,z)=(72.8, 100). Themore
carefullycalculatedlocationis(68.4, 72.9),significantlydifferent! Whatisthe
problemwiththeGaborzoneplatemodelnow? Recallthatouranalysis
assumedthattheraysofinteresttravelsclosetoandatsmallanglestothe
opticalaxisofthezoneplate,whatwecalledaparaxialanalysis. Butforan
off-axishologram,theraysofinterestpassthroughthecenterofthehologram,
whichisfarfromtheZFPandtheopticalaxisofthezoneplate. Theoff-axis
andlarge-angleaberrationshavebecometoolargetoaccuratelypredictanything
butthelocationofthevirtualimageinnear-perfectreconstruction.
prism+lens(grating+zoneplate)model
Whatthesin and1/Requationsforthem=+1imagearetellingusisthatthe
lightturnsuponreachingthehologram,asthoughdeflectedbyadiffraction
grating(oritsrefractiveequivalent,abase-downprism),andthenisfocused
(well,diverged)byanon-axisGaborzoneplate(oritsequivalent,anegativeor
double-concavelens). Ontheotherhand,them=1imageisdeflectedthe
oppositeway(theoppositeorderoftheimage,orabase-upprism)andfocused
bytheoppositepowerofthezoneplate(oritsequivalent,apositiveordoubleconvexlens). Higherorderimagesaregeneratedbyprismsandlenses,each
havingmultiplesofthebasepower,alwayspaired. Refractingelementsseemto
bemorephotogenicthantheirdiffractiveequivalents,soweoftensketchanoffaxishologramasacombinationoftwolens-prismpairs(inidealizedoptics,it
doesntmatterwhichcomesfirst). Uponexaminationofthetransmittance
pattern,wefindaconstantspatialfrequencytermplusatermwithalinearly
varyingfrequency,whichcanbeinterpretedastwodiffractiveelementsin
tandem,exactlyassuggestedbythesesketches. Thusthismodelbringsusquite
closetothemathematicalaswellasphysicalrealityofoff-axisholograms.
Thefocusinthex-directionisalittledifferent,asthereissomecoupling
betweenthepoweroftheequivalentlensandtheequivalentprism,sothatthe
lensitselfhasdifferentcurvaturesinthetwodirections,aswouldalens
designedtocorrectastigmaticvision. Theappearanceofanastigmatically
focusedimageisdifficulttodescribe. Foranimagefocusedonacard,vertical
andhorizontallineswillcomeintosharpfocusatslightlydifferentdistances.An
aerialimageviewedinspacebyaneyemayseemtohavedifferent
magnificationsinthetwodirections. Theimplicationswillbecontext-specific,
sowewillexplorethemastheyariseinholographicimagingsystems.
Thesin equationisexact;itisaraytracingequationafterall. Butthefocusing
equationsarevalidonlyforsmallvariationsofangleorlocationaroundthe
accuratelyraytracedcomponent. Wecallthisaparabasaltypeofanalysis,one
thatisvalidonlyinthemathematicalvicinityofthebasalraythatistraced
throughthepartofthehologramofinterest,eventhoughthatraystraysfarfrom
thez-axisandhasseverallarge-anglebends.
Imagemagnification
Nowthatwehavefoundtheimagelocationsfairlyaccurately,allthatremainto
befoundarethemagnificationsoftheimagestofinishourcharacterizationof
off-axishologramsas3-Dimagingsystems.

-p.6-

para-[1] 1. aprefixappearingin
loanwordsfromGreek,withthe
meaningsatortoonesideof,beside,
sidebyside(parabola;paragraph),
beyond,past,by(paradox;paragoge).
(72.8,100)?
ZFP

longitudinalmagnification:
Notethatthe1/Requationisthesameforoff-axisandon-axisholograms,and
recallthatthisistheequationthatgovernslongitudinalmagnification. Thusthe
sameequation(whichfollowedfromthederivativeoftheRout)applies,butnow
re-statedintermsofwavefrontcurvatures:
2

R out, m
MAGlong =
=m 2
.
R obj
1 R obj
R out, m

(13)

Weonlyhavetopointoutthattheradiiarenowmeasuredalongalinethrough
thecenterofthehologramandthecenteroftheobject,whichmaybeatalarge
angletothez-axis.
Thex-focusorcos2equationmovestheimagesaroundandchangestheir
magnification. Discussionoftheexactrelationshipisdeferredtoalaterdraftof
thesenotes!
lateralmagnification:
Theangularsubtenseapproachistheonlyworkablehandleonlateral
magnificationinthiscase,astheZFP&centralraymethodisnolonger
applicable. Rememberingtheinterferencepatternscausedbylightfromthetop
andbottomofanarrowsomedistancefromthehologram,themarkedtiltofthe
referencebeamcausesthesetwoobjectbeamstogenerateslightlydifferent
spatialfrequencies. Thesubtenseoftheoutputraysisthendeterminedbythe
differenceintheoutputanglesforthosesamefrequencies. Recallingthe
discussionthatleduptothefinalequationofthepreviouschapter,wehavethe
lateralmagnificationexpressedas
cos obj Rout, m, x
MAGlateral,x = m 2
.
(14)
1 cos out,m Robj
Thisisthemagnificationinthex-direction,andrequiresknowledgeofthe
correspondingimagedistance(orwavefrontcurvature). Diffractioninthe
y-directionislessclearlyanalyzedinourterms,buttheangularsubtensedoes
notdependontheanglesinvolved,sothecorrespondingequationsfollowas
(tentativelythesehavenotyetbeenexperimentallyconfirmed):
out, m, y

=m 2 ,
obj
1

Rout, m, y
MAGlateral, y = m 2
.
1 Robj

(15)

Intermodulationnoise
Anothercomponentofthelightiswhatwehavebeencallinghalolight,which
isalsocalledintermodulationnoiseandobjectshapedependentnoise. It
producesadiffusefanoflightaroundthezero-orderbeam,theattenuated
straight-throughilluminationbeam. Ifthenon-linearitiesintheemulsion
responseareverystrong,italsocausesdiffuselighttoappearinandaroundthe
image,butherewewillconcentrateonthehalooflightaroundthezero-order
beam,andfindtheconditionsthatwillkeepitfromoverlappingtheimagelight.
Thekeyquestioniswhatistheangleofthehalofan?
Thehaloiscausedbytheinterferenceoflightfrompointsontheobject. We
havebeenconsideringthehologramasthoughtherewereonlyoneobjectpoint
atatime. Whentherearemanypoints(theusualcase),coarseinterference
fringesarisefrominterferenceamongthem. Becausetheobjectpointsareallat
roughlythesamedistancefromthehologram,thegratingsthatintra-object
interferenceproducesareofapproximatelyconstantspatialfrequencyacrossthe
hologram. Tofindthelimitsofthefanofhalolight,weonlyneedtoconsider
interferencebetweenthemostwidelyspreadobjectpoints. Wedesignatethe
anglesubtendedbytheobjectasobj. Themaximumspatialfrequencyofthe

-p.7-

intra-objectinterferencegrating(fIMN)isthen,assumingthatthecenterofthe
objectisperpendiculartotheplate,
obj
2 sin

2
f
=
.
IMN
1

obj

(16)

Toavoidoverlapofthehalolightandtheimagelight,itisonlynecessarythat
theminimumspatialfrequencyoftheimagegratingsbegreaterthanfIMN. This
relationshipisexpressedas
obj
sin ref sin

2
fobj min =
1
obj
2 sin

, or
1

(17)

obj
sin ref 3sin
.
2
Thusthesize,orrathertheangularsubtend,ofanobjectislimitedbythechoice
ofreferencebeamangle,iftheoverlapofhalolightistobeavoided. Ifthe
objecthasanangularsubtendof30,forexample,thenthereferencebeamangle
mustbeatleast51. Theintensityofhalolightdropsoffsmoothlyfromthe
centertotheedgesofthefan,sotheselimitationscanbestretchedabitbefore
muchimagedegradationisvisible. However,thereareseveralothersourcesof
scatterthatcansendilluminationbeamlightintotheimagearea,sothat
controllinghaloisonlyoneissuetopayattentionto.
Conclusions
Off-axishologramsmayrequirethreetimesasmanyequationsasdiffraction
gratings,buttheyinvolvethesamephysicalprinciplesandfitinthesamelogic
thatwestarteddevelopingseveralweeksago. Comparedtoin-lineholograms,
theyrequireonenewequation,thecos-squaredfocusinglawthatdescribesthe
astigmatismofoff-axisholographicimaging. Astigmatismhasminimal
implicationsforvirtualimages,butwillsoonhavetobedealtwithvery
carefullyforrealimages. Inexchangeforthismathematicalcomplexity,we
havemovedintothedomainofhologramsthatproducetrulyimpressivethree
images!
References:
1. E.N.LeithandJ.Upatnieks,Reconstructedwavefrontsandcommunication
theory,
J.Opt.Soc.Amer.52,pp. 1123-30(1962).
2. E.N.LeithandJ.Upatnieks,Wavefrontreconstructionwithcontinuous-tone
objects,
J.Opt.Soc.Amer.53,pp. 1377-81(1963).
3. E.N.LeithandJ.Upatnieks,Wavefrontreconstructionwithdiffused
illuminationandthree-dimensionalobjects,
J.Opt.Soc.Amer.54,pp. 1295-1301(1964).
ThatfamousTrainandBirdhologramisondisplayattheMITMuseum.
4. R.W.Meier,Magnificationandthird-orderaberrationsinholography,
J.Opt.Soc.Amer.55, pp. 987-992(1965).
5. A.A.WardandL.Solymar,Imagedistortionsindisplayholograms,
J.Photog.Sci.24,pp. 62-76(1986).

-p.8-

ref
obj/2