A method for defect inspection of a transparent substrate comprises (a) providing an optical system for performing a diffraction process of object wave passing through a transparent substrate, (b) interfering and wavefront recording for the diffracted object wave and a reference wave to reconstruct the defect complex images (including amplitude and phase) of the transparent substrate, (c) characteristics analyzing, features classifying and sieving for the defect complex images of the transparent substrate, and (d) creating defect complex images database based-on the defect complex images for comparison and detection of the defect complex images of the transparent substrate.

A device and method for recording and reproducing holographic information, and a display apparatus are disclosed. The device for recording holographic information comprises an electro-optical regulating element, which is arranged in a light path between an object to be reproduced and a recording medium, receives an object beam scattered by the object to be reproduced, and regulates an outgoing direction and a focal distance of the object beam to irradiate the recording medium. The recording medium is configured to receive the reference beam from the light source and the object beam regulated by the electro-optical regulating element. The reference beam and the object beam form information relevant with the object to be reproduced in the recording medium. By regulating the outgoing direction and focal distance of beam with the electro-optical regulating element, it is unnecessary to rotate the recording medium for recording and reproducing the holographic information.

A system and method to produce a hologram of a single plane of a three dimensional object includes an electromagnetic radiation assembly to elicit electromagnetic radiation from a single plane of said object, and an assembly to direct the elicited electromagnetic radiation toward a hologram-forming assembly. The hologram-forming assembly creates a hologram that is recorded by an image capture assembly and then further processed to create maximum resolution images free of an inherent holographic artifact.

Systems and methods for sub-aperture correlation based wavefront measurement in a thick sample and correction as a post processing technique for interferometric imaging to achieve near diffraction limited resolution are described. Theory, simulation and experimental results are presented for the case of full field interference microscopy. The inventive technique can be applied to any coherent interferometric imaging technique and does not require knowledge of any system parameters. In one embodiment of the present application, a fast and simple way to correct for defocus aberration is described. A variety of applications for the method are presented.

A system and method to produce a hologram of a single plane of a three dimensional object includes an electromagnetic radiation assembly to elicit electromagnetic radiation from a single plane of said object, and an assembly to direct the elicited electromagnetic radiation toward a hologram-forming assembly. The hologram-forming assembly creates a hologram that is recorded by an image capture assembly and then further processed to create maximum resolution images free of an inherent holographic artifact.

In one embodiment, a self-interference incoherent digital holography system including a light sensor and a diffractive filter configured to receive light from an object to be holographically imaged and generate holographic interference patterns on the light sensor. A self-interference incoherent digital holography system comprising: a light sensor; and a diffractive filter configured to receive light from an object to be holographically imaged and generate holographic interference patterns on the sensor.

Systems and methods for three-dimensional imaging and viewing are disclosed. A method for generating a three-dimensional image may include producing a pattern in a spatial light modulator based on data representative of an image of an object, illuminating the spatial light modulator so as to yield a projection beam, masking at least one portion of the projection beam such that a portion of the projection beam is selected, and propagating the selected portion to an exit pupil so as to form a virtual 3-D image of the object when viewed at the exit pupil. An apparatus may include a projector comprising a spatial light modulator array that modulates the phase of light to produce a phase modulated beam that is projected to a viewer thereby forming a 3-D image of the object when viewed by the viewer, and processing electronics configured to extract phase information from a signal.