Extended focused imaging for digital holograms of macroscopic three-dimensional objects

When a digital hologram is reconstructed, only points located at the reconstruction distance are in focus. We have developed a novel technique for creating an in-focus image of the macroscopic objects encoded in a digital hologram. This extended focused image is created by combining numerical reconstructions with depth information extracted by using our depth-from-focus algorithm. To our knowledge, this is the first technique that creates extended focused images of digital holograms encoding macroscopic objects. We present results for digital holograms containing low- and high-contrast macroscopic objects.     

Quantization noise and its reduction in lensless Fourier digital holography

Digital holography is an imaging technique that enables recovery of topographic 3D information about an object under investigation. In digital holography, an interference pattern is recorded on a digital camera. Therefore, quantization of the recorded hologram is an integral part of the imaging process. We study the influence of quantization error in the recorded holograms on the fidelity of both the intensity and phase of the reconstructed image. We limit our analysis to the case of lensless Fourier off-axis digital holograms. We derive a theoretical model to predict the effect of quantization noise and we validate this model using experimental results. Based on this, we also show how the resultant noise in the reconstructed image, as well as the speckle that is inherent in digital holography, can be conveniently suppressed by standard speckle reduction techniques. We show that high-quality images can be obtained from binary holograms when speckle reduction is performed.     

一种去除离焦粒子像的简便方法

记录着不同深度位置的粒子全息图在数值重构过程中由于直透光、孪生像的影响以及离焦粒子像的存在,导致了聚焦粒子再现像质量的下降.针对这一问题,本文提出一种数值处理方法来减小上述三因素对聚焦粒子再现像的影响.该方法通过对数值重构出的两个聚焦与非聚焦面上粒子复振幅相减,将直透光、孪生像和离焦粒子像对聚焦粒子的影响同时减小,因此提高和改善了聚焦粒子再现像的对比度.在同轴数字全息层析再现粒子场过程中,该方法适用于在某一聚焦面仅显示聚焦粒子.此外,该过程仅需要一张全息图,而且不需要对全息图做预前和后期处理.给出了简要理论以及仿真、实验结果.     

Underwater digital holography for studies of marine plankton

Conventional and digital holographies are proving to be increasingly important for studies of marine zooplankton and other underwater biological applications. This paper reports on the use of a subsea digital holographic camera (eHoloCam) for the analysis and identification of marine organisms and other subsea particles. Unlike recording on a photographic film, a digital hologram (e-hologram) is recorded on an electronic sensor and reconstructed numerically in a computer by simulating the propagation of the optical field in space. By comparison with other imaging techniques, an e-hologram has several advantages such as three-dimensional spatial reconstruction, non-intrusive and non-destructive interrogation of the recording sampling volume and the ability to record holographic videos. The basis of much work in optics lies in Maxwell's electromagnetic theory and holography is no exception: we report here on two of the numerical reconstruction algorithms we have used to reconstruct holograms obtained using eHoloCam and how their starting point lies in Maxwell's equations. Derivation of the angular spectrum algorithm for plane waves is provided as an exact method for the in-line numerical reconstruction of digital holograms. The Fresnel numerical reconstruction algorithm is derived from the angular spectrum method. In-line holograms are numerically processed before and after reconstruction to remove periodic noise from captured images and to increase image contrast. The ability of the Fresnel integration reconstruction algorithm to extend the reconstructed volume beyond the recording sensor dimensions is also shown with a 50% extension of the reconstruction area. Finally, we present some images obtained from recent deployments of eHoloCam in the North Sea and Faeroes Channel.     

Improvement of color reproduction in color digital holography by using spectral estimation technique

We propose a color digital holography by using spectral estimation technique to improve the color reproduction of objects. In conventional color digital holography, there is insufficient spectral information in holograms, and the color of the reconstructed images depend on only reflectances at three discrete wavelengths used in the recording of holograms. Therefore the color-composite image of the three reconstructed images is not accurate in color reproduction. However, in our proposed method, the spectral estimation technique was applied, which has been reported in multispectral imaging. According to the spectral estimation technique, the continuous spectrum of object can be estimated and the color reproduction is improved. The effectiveness of the proposed method was confirmed by a numerical simulation and an experiment, and, in the results, the average color differences are decreased from 35.81 to 7.88 and from 43.60 to 25.28, respectively.     

Digital holography of particle fields: reconstruction by use of complex amplitude

Digital holography appears to be a strong contender as the next-generation technology for holographic diagnostics of particle fields and holographic particle image velocimetry for flow field measurement. With the digital holographic approach, holograms are directly recorded by a digital camera and reconstructed numerically. This not only eliminates wet chemical processing and mechanical scanning, but also enables the use of complex amplitude information inaccessible by optical reconstruction, thereby allowing flexible reconstruction algorithms to achieve optimization of specific information. However, owing to the inherently low pixel resolution of solid-state imaging sensors, digital holography gives poor depth resolution for images, a problem that severely impairs the usefulness of digital holography especially in densely populated particle fields. This paper describes a technique that significantly improves particle axial-location accuracy by exploring the reconstructed complex amplitude information, compared with other numerical reconstruction schemes that merely mimic traditional optical reconstruction. This novel method allows accurate extraction of particle locations from forward-scattering particle holograms even at high particle loadings.     

Image formation in phase-shifting digital holography and applications to microscopy

We discuss image formation in phase-shifting digital holography by developing an analytical formulation based on the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction theory. Image-plane position and imaging magnification are derived for general configurations in which a spherical reference is employed. The influences of discrete sampling of the resulting interference patterns by a CCD and numerical reconstruction on qualities of point images are investigated. Dependence of the point images on the ratio of the minimum fringe spacing to pixel pitch of the CCD is numerically analyzed. Two-point resolution and magnification are also investigated as a function of pixel numbers by a simulation using a one-dimensional model. In experiments magnified images of biological objects and a resolution target were reconstructed with the same quality as by conventional microscopy.     

Efficient compression of fresnel fields for Internet transmission of three-dimensional images

We compress phase-shift digital holograms (whole Fresnel fields) for the transmission of three-dimensional images. For real-time networking applications, the time required to compress can be as critical as the compression rate. We achieve lossy compression through quantization of both the real and imaginary streams, followed by a bit packing operation. Compression losses in the reconstructed objects were quantified. We define a speedup metric that combines space gains due to compression with temporal overheads due to the compression routine and the transmission serialization. We empirically verify transmission speedup due to compression using a special-purpose Internet-based networking application.     

Three-dimensional identification of stem cells by computational holographic imaging.

We present an optical imaging system and mathematical algorithms for three-dimensional sensing and identification of stem cells. Data acquisition of stem cells is based on holographic microscopy in the Fresnel domain by illuminating the cells with a laser. In this technique, the holograms of stem cells are optically recorded with an image sensor array interfaced with a computer and three-dimensional images of the stem cells are reconstructed from the Gabor-filtered digital holograms. The Gabor wavelet transformation for feature extraction of the digital hologram is performed to improve the process of identification. The inverse Fresnel transformation of the Gabor-filtered digital hologram is performed to reconstruct the multi-scale three-dimensional images of the stem cells at different depths along the longitudinal direction. For recognition and classification of stem cells, a statistical approach using an empirical cumulative density function is introduced. The experiments indicate that the proposed system can be potentially useful for recognizing and classifying stem cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on using three-dimensional holographic microscopy for automated identification of stem cells.     

一种基于人眼视觉特性的解压缩图像质量提高方法

目的为了提高解压缩重建图像的视觉效果和质量。方法结合人眼视觉特性和图像变换域频谱系数特征,构建了一个提升解压缩图像质量的补偿矩阵,用以在解压缩过程中对反量化系数起到补偿作用,并采用JPEG压缩算法,对3幅彩色图像进行仿真实验验证。结果在6种压缩比下,相对于JPEG技术,在解压缩重建图像过程中加入补偿矩阵后,反映提升图像质量的参数SSIM和PSNR值分别平均增加了2.5275%和11.8977%。结论该补偿矩阵有效提升了解压缩图像的质量,较好地弥补了压缩过程中因量化而导致图像质量下降的不足。     

Optimally tuned spatial light modulators for digital holography

Digital holography and comparative digital holography are applications that require computer-addressable modulators for the optical reconstruction of digital holograms. The quality of the reconstructed holograms depends on the modulator's properties. Therefore a characterization of the modulators is required. We show the result of a modulator characterization and the modulator's influence on the quality of the reconstructed hologram. We then compare qualitatively and quantitatively the optical reconstruction of phase and amplitude holograms by considering their level of detail and their diffraction efficiency.     

High topographical accuracy by optical shot noise reduction in digital holographic microscopy

In this work, we present a new method to reduce the shot noise in phase imaging of digital holograms. A spatial averaging process of phase images reconstructed at different reconstruction distances is performed, with the reconstruction distance range being specified by the numerical focus depth of the optical system. An improved phase image is attained with a 50% shot noise reduction. We use the integral of the angular spectrum as a reconstruction method to obtain a single-object complex amplitude that is needed to perform our proposal. We also show the corresponding simulations and experimental results. The topography of a homemade TiO2 stepwise of 100 nm high was measured and compared with the atomic force microscope results.     

Digital holographic particle validation via complex wave

The inability to distinguish between particle images and noise in holographic reconstruction of dense particle fields hampers the advancement of holographic particle diagnostic techniques including holographic particle image velocimetry. We developed a method to separate particles from the noise by unlocking a unique particle signature in the complex reconstructed field. This complex-wave signature is present in digital particle holograms recorded at any scattering angle. Simulations of single and multiple particle holograms, as well as preliminary laboratory particle-field experiments, not only demonstrated the existence of the particle signature but also evaluated its ability to remove noise. Regardless of particle seeding density, scattering angle of hologram recording and particle size range, the particle identification/validation routine consistently provides >50% removal of "bad" particles and <8% of good particles.     

单次相移数字全息中相移值的提取

为了消除相移误差对数字全息中再现像的像质的影响,本文时单次相移数字全息进行了研究.基于相位统计特性,提出了一种有效消除相移误差的新方法,该方法能够对任意未知相移量进行提取,并利用数字全息图所有抽样点的强度偏差之和作为评价标准,通过逐步改变计算得到的初始相移值来寻找正确的实际相移角.计算机模拟得到了很好的再现结果,证明了该方法的可行性和有效性.     

Image reconstruction only by phase data in phase-shifting digital holography

We describe data compression in phase-shifting digital holography. We demonstrate by experimentation that an image of a diffusely reflecting object can be reconstructed only by phase data of the derived complex amplitude. It is shown that reduction of the bit depth of the phase data does not seriously damage the image even down to 1 bit. We observe enhancement of halo in the image with low bit depths. This tendency is verified quantitatively by a one-dimensional simulation. Our procedure for smoothing the images that result from the data-compression methods is shown to be effective.     

Comparison of two-, three-, and four-exposure quadrature phase-shifting holography

In standard (four-exposure) quadrature phase-shifting holography (QPSH), two holograms and two intensity maps are acquired for zero-order-free and twin-image-free reconstruction. The measurement of the intensity map of the object light can be omitted in three-exposure QPSH. Furthermore, the measurements of the two intensity maps can be omitted in two-exposure QPSH, and the acquisition time of the overall holographic recording process is reduced. In this paper we examine the quality of the reconstructed images in two-, three-, and four-exposure QPSH, in simulations as well as in optical experiments. Various intensity ratios of the object light and the reference light are taken into account. Simulations show that two- and three-exposure QPSH can provide reconstructed images with quality comparable to that of four-exposure QPSH at a low intensity ratio. In practice the intensity ratio is limited by visibility, and thus four-exposure QPSH exhibits the best quality of the reconstructed image. The uniformity and the phase error of the reference light are also discussed. We found in most cases there is no significant difference between the reconstructed images in two- and three-exposure QPSH, and the quality of the reconstructed images is acceptable for visual applications such as the acquisition of three-dimensional scene for display or particle tracking.     

Low-bit-rate computer-generated color Fresnel holography with compression ratio of over 1600 times using vector quantization [Invited

We propose a method for compressing a digital color Fresnel hologram based on vector quantization (VQ). The complex color hologram is first separated into three complex holograms, each representing one of the primary colors. Subsequently, each hologram is converted into what we call a real Fresnel hologram and compressed with VQ based on a universal codebook. Experimental evaluation reveals that our scheme is capable of attaining a compression ratio of over 1600 times and still preserving acceptable visual quality on the reconstructed images. Moreover, the decoding process is free from computation and highly resistant to noise contamination on the compressed data.     

Digital recording and reconstruction of holograms in hologram interferometry and shearography

The fundamentals of digital recording and mathematical reconstruction of Fresnel holograms are described. The object is recorded in two different states, and the holograms are stored electronically with a charge-coupled-device detector. In the process of reconstruction the digitally sampled holograms are applied to the different coherent optical methods as hologram interferometry and shearography. If the holograms are superimposed and reconstructed jointly, a holographic interferogram results. If a shearing is introduced in the reconstruction process, a shearogram results. This means that the evaluation technique, e.g., hologram interferometry or shearography, can be influenced by numerical methods.     

Application of the correlation coefficient method for determination of the focal plane to digital particle holography

The correlation coefficient (CC) method, which was proposed by our research group, is applied to digital particle holography to locate the focal plane of particles. It uses the fact that the CC is maximum at the focal plane. The factors influencing this method are discussed with a numerical simulation of holograms. For real holograms, the Wiener filter was proposed to process both recorded holograms and reconstructed images. The application results using the dot array target showed that the Wiener filter is a very effective tool for processing holography-related images. The effects of the dot size and the object distance on the errors in the determination of the focal plane by the CC method were investigated by using the calibration target.     

High resolution digital holographic microscopy with a wide field of view based on a synthetic aperture technique and use of linear CCD scanning

Theoretical analysis shows that, to improve the resolution and the range of the field of view of the reconstructed image in digital lensless Fourier transform holography, an effective solution is to increase the area and the pixel number of the recorded digital hologram. A new approach based on the synthetic aperture technique and use of linear CCD scanning is presented to obtain digital holographic images with high resolution and a wide field of view. By using a synthetic aperture technique and linear CCD scanning, we obtained digital lensless Fourier transform holograms with a large area of 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm (5000 x 5000 pixels). The numerical reconstruction of a 4 mm object at a distance of 14 cm by use of a Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral shows that a theoretically minimum resolvable distance of 2.57 microm can be achieved at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis.