Digital in-line holography of microspheres

We have used digital in-line holography (DIH) with numerical reconstruction to image micrometer-sized latex spheres as well as ferrimagnetic beads suspended in gelatin. We have examined in detail theoretically and experimentally the conditions necessary to achieve submicrometer resolution of holographic reconstructions. We found that both transparent and opaque particles could be imaged with a resolution that was limited only by the wavelength of the light used. Simple inspection of intensity profiles through a particle allowed an estimate to be made of the particle's three position coordinates within an accuracy of a few hundred nanometers. When the derivative of a second-order polynomial fitted to the intensity profiles was taken, the X, Y, Z position coordinates of particles could be determined within +/-50 nm. More-accurate positional resolution should be possible with the help of more-advanced computer averaging techniques. Because a single hologram can give information about a large collection of distributed particles, DIH offers the prospect of a powerful new tool for three-dimensional tracking of particles.     

Digital in-line soft x-ray holography with element contrast

Digital in-line soft x-ray holography (DIXH) was used to image immobilized polystyrene and iron oxide particles and to distinguish them based on their different x-ray absorption cross sections in the vicinity of the carbon K-absorption edge. The element-specific information from the resonant DIXH images was correlated with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures. We also present DIXH images of a cell nucleus and compare the contrast obtained for nuclear components with the appearance in optical microscopy.     

Extended ABCD matrix formalism for the description of femtosecond diffraction patterns; application to femtosecond digital in-line holography with anamorphic optical systems

We present a new model to predict diffraction patterns of femtosecond pulses through complex optical systems. The model is based on the extension of an ABCD matrix formalism combined with generalized Huygens-Fresnel transforms (already used in the CW regime) to the femtosecond regime. The model is tested to describe femtosecond digital in-line holography experiments realized in situ through a cylindrical Plexiglas pipe. The model allows us to establish analytical relations that link the holographic reconstruction process to the experimental parameters of the pipe and of the incident beam itself. Simulations and experimental results are in good concordance. Femtosecond digital in-line holography is shown to allow significant coherent noise reduction, and this model will be particularly efficient to describe a wide range of optical geometries. More generally, the model developed can be easily used in any experiment where the knowledge of the precise evolution of femtosecond transverse patterns is required.     

Digital image decoding for in-line X-ray holography using two holograms

Abstract

A novel solution to twin-image disturbance in in-line X-ray holography is presented. By computer simulation, this two-hologram-based digital way is proved to be efficient, while conditions relating to experiments are taken into account.     

Digital in-line holography with an elliptical, astigmatic Gaussian beam: wide-angle reconstruction

We demonstrate that the effect of object shift in an elliptical, astigmatic Gaussian beam does not affect the optimal fractional orders used to reconstruct the holographic image of a particle or another opaque object in the field. Simulations and experimental results are presented.     

Image formation in detuned interference-filter-aided in-line Fraunhofer holography

Detuned interference filters as Fourier processors can be used to enhance the poor fringe contrast often encountered with in-line Fraunhofer holography of small or many far-fields-away micro-objects. The subsequent effect on the reconstructed-image irradiance distribution is described. The modified aperture-limited image shape and size, and the possible consequences on the quantitative analysis are discussed.     

The application of holography to examine plated fracture fixation systems

The determination of the real strain patterns across a plated fractured bone is important in developing alternative and improved fracture fixation devices. Bone is strain sensitive, and therefore controlling the displacement or strain at the fracture site or near the fracture plate will effect the bone's response to the fixator. Holographic interferometry is shown to be a useful technique for examining very small displacements, in particular relative displacements between two separate parts of the bone-screw-plate system. Relative movement between the bone ends can be reduced by angling an osteotomy, by interlocking a natural fracture or, most efficiently, by applying compression across the fractured bone ends. Increasing the number of fixation points from four to six reduces the slip between the plate and the bone.     

Size measurement of bubbles in a cavitation tunnel by digital in-line holography

Digital in-line holography (DIH) with a divergent beam is used to measure size and concentration of cavitation bubbles (6-100 μm) in hydrodynamic facilities. A sampling probe is directly inserted in the cavitation tunnel, and the holograms of the bubbles are recorded through a transparent test section specially designed for DIH measurements. The recording beam coming from a fiber-coupled laser diode illuminates the sample volume, and holograms are recorded by a CMOS camera. From each hologram, the sampling volume can be reconstructed slice by slice by applying a wavelet-based reconstruction method. Because of the geometry of the recording beam, a magnification ratio must be introduced for recovering the 3D location and size of each bubble. The method used for processing holograms recorded in such a configuration is presented. Then, statistical results obtained from 5000 holograms recorded under different pressures in the cavitation tunnel are compared and discussed.     

Digital holography and 3D imaging: Introduction to the feature issue

This feature issue contains a representative selection of topics that were presented at the inaugural OSA Topical Meeting on Digital Holography and 3D Imaging as well as additional relevant papers.     

Three-dimensional remote sensing by optical scanning holography: comment

A coherence theory describing the formation of a hologram by an interesting new technique is presented to improve the theoretical treatment given by Schilling and Templeton [Appl. Opt. 40, 5474 (2001)]. Properties of the hologram pattern are discussed, and some comments are made on its reconstruction.     

Study of transient deformations with pulsed TV holography: application to crack detection

We report the measurement of reproducible transient deformations with single-pulsed-subtraction and double-pulsed-addition TV holography with both in-plane and out-of-plane optical configurations. An original synchronization system (controlling mechanical excitation of the object, firing the laser pulses, and image acquisition) used to obtain the subtraction and the addition correlation fringes is described. Experimental results are presented for the propagation of mechanical shock waves in a cantilever specimen and their subsequent diffraction by a crack in the specimen. These preliminary results show that the technique may be used for crack detection.     

Polarization microscopy by use of digital holography: application to optical-fiber birefringence measurements

We present a digital holographic microscope that permits one to image polarization state. This technique results from the coupling of digital holographic microscopy and polarization digital holography. The interference between two orthogonally polarized reference waves and the wave transmitted by a microscopic sample, magnified by a microscope objective, is recorded on a CCD camera. The off-axis geometry permits one to reconstruct separately from this single hologram two wavefronts that are used to image the object-wave Jones vector. We applied this technique to image the birefringence of a bent fiber. To evaluate the precision of the phase-difference measurement, the birefringence induced by internal stress in an optical fiber is measured and compared to the birefringence profile captured by a standard method, which had been developed to obtain high-resolution birefringence profiles of optical fibers.     

Compression of interference patterns with application to phase-shifting digital holography

A compression method of phase-shifting digital holographic data is presented. Three interference patterns are recorded, and holographic information is extracted from them by phase-shifting interferometry. The scheme uses standard baseline Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) or standard JPEG-2000 image compression techniques on the recorded interference patterns to reduce the amount of data to be stored. High compression rates are achieved for good reconstructed object image quality. The utility of the proposed method is experimentally verified with real holographic data. Results for compression rates using JPEG-2000 and JPEG of approximately 27 and 20, respectively, for a normalized root-mean-square error of approximately 0.7 are demonstrated.     

Investigation into the transportation and melting of thick ice slurries in pipes

This paper presents the results of experiments and modelling carried out on ice slurries flowing in uninsulated steel pipes with a nominal diameter of 50 mm. The slurries used were formed from 4.75% NaCl aqueous solution and had ice mass fractions in the range 18–42%, with a view to the use of thick ice slurry ‘pigs’ as a pipeline clearing technique. Of particular interest was the distance over which such slurries can survive as plug-like entities, before melting reduces them to ineffective thin two-phase suspensions. The experiments showed that for small volumes of slurry, survivability is directly proportional to the quantity of slurry used, but that increasing the ice fraction has a more marked effect. A simple one-dimensional numerical model that accounts for transportation, heat transfer and melting was developed that produces reasonable predictions.     

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.     

Integrated gray-level gradient method applied for the extraction of three-dimensional velocity fields of sprays in in-line digital holography

In this study, an integrated gray-level gradient method is applied to extract the three-dimensional (3D) velocity fields of sprays. This method consists of a conventional edge-sharpness method and a new method, namely, the overall-sharpness method, which is an efficient supplement of the former. And then the synchronization system is designed and assembled to record double-exposure spray holograms in a short time interval. Finally, using the integrated gray-level gradient method and some image processing techniques, the 3D coordinates of droplets are easily obtained, which can be used to evaluate the 3D velocity fields and the size features of spray droplets in different spray injection pressures. It proves that the integrated gray-level gradient method is well applied to measure the characteristics of sprays in in-line digital holography.     

Control of compound elements of magnetic focusing systems by the method of magnetic optical visualization

Technology and installation of visual monitoring of the distribution of the normal component of a magnetic field on polar surfaces of permanent magnets is described. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5, pp. 55–56, May, 1998.