A digital holographic image-taking apparatus includes an illumination portion having a light emission surface for emitting illumination light toward an object, the illumination light having a specific wavelength in a coherent plane waveform; and an image sensor having an pixel array including two-dimensionally arranged pixels, the image sensor capturing an interference pattern generated based on the illumination light having acted on the object, in which the following conditional expression is satisfied: 0.0000001<Z.sup.2/S<16, where S represents the area of the light emission surface, and Z represents the distance from the light emission surface to the pixel array.

A self-interference digital holographic system obtains interference patterns of incident light using a simple geometric phase lens, and obtains a holographic image of a target object using the interference patterns. The self-interference digital holographic is fabricated simply in a low cost and in a miniaturized size, and the use thereof as actual products is extended to a wide range of applications. The phase of incident light is be changed by rotating a polarizer, independently of a change in the optical path. Phase-shifting effects are obtained with fewer errors in all wavelength ranges, and a more accurate holographic image is produced. A single birefringence hologram is obtained by a one-time image-capturing process by simultaneously forming interference patterns from phase-shifted linearly-polarized beams by space division, using a phase shifter on the basis of space division. Moving holographic images can be captured.

A method for digitally generating a hologram plane from a three-dimensional scene, cut into a plurality of planes parallel to the hologram plane. The method includes for a current plane: counting a number of points of the non-zero amplitude scene; choosing a first or second technique for propagating a light wave emitted by the current plane as a function of a number of points of non-zero amplitude included in the current plane and with a preset threshold value, the first, point-based technique calculating the propagation of a sum of light waves emitted by point sources constituted by the points of the scene portion of a non-zero amplitude of the current plane on a following plane, and the second, field-based technique, globally calculating a light wave emitted by the scene portion situated in the current plane on a given plane; and processing the current plane according to the chosen propagation technique.

According to one embodiment, a beam splitter splits light into first light and second light. The second light is used to irradiate a sample containing particles. A first imaging device images a first interference pattern formed by multiplexing third light, which has been generated by irradiating the particles with the second light, and the first light. A second imaging device images a second interference pattern formed by the third light. An arithmetic device compares a composite image with a calculated image. The composite image is created by using a first interference image picked up by the first imaging device and a second interference image picked up by the second imaging device. The calculated image is obtained by combining single particle interference images, each of which is expected to be obtained by the first imaging device in a case where a particle is present alone in the sample.

An example system includes a master oscillator that provides a master oscillator beam, a first fiber beam splitter that splits the master oscillator beam into a first branch and a second branch, a second fiber beam splitter that splits the first branch into an imaging branch and an amplified characteristic branch, and a compensation branch mixer that mixes the second branch and the amplified characteristic branch into a compensation branch. The example system includes transmission optics that direct the imaging branch to a target location, an imaging mixer that mixes the compensation branch and a reflected image from the target location into an imaging signal, and an acquisition device that receives the imaging signal as a final image. An example system optionally includes a mode matching lens that applies a selected wavefront characteristic to the compensation branch.

Example embodiments provide digital holographic techniques and associated systems for imaging through scattering media in a strictly one-sided observation in which the observer (e.g. the controller of the camera) has no access to the object plane nor does the observer introduce a fluorescing agent to the object plane. An example imaging system comprises a laser source, a digital sensor array, and a processing system. The processing system transmits light from the laser source to a target object; detects interference formed on the digital sensor array by a reference beam from the transmitted light and reflected light from the target object, the reflected light either travelling through or being reflected by a scattering medium located between the target object and the digital sensor array; jointly estimating, based on the detected interference, parameters defining the scattering behavior of the particular scattering medium and an image of the target object; and outputting the jointly estimated scattering parameters and an image of the target object.

Systems and methods for simultaneous multi-channel off-axis holography are described. Multi-channel imaging systems can include a light system including a plurality of light sources configured to generate illumination and reference beams at a plurality of wavelengths, an illumination system configured to illuminate a target object with the illumination beams, an optical assembly configured to receive a reflected target beam and condition the target beam for recording at an optical imaging system, and a reference system configured to propagate the reference beams to the optical imaging system. The reference beams are interfered with the target beam at the optical imaging system to create interference patterns, which can be recorded in a collective image having a plurality of side lobes. Holographic information in the side lobes can be combined to generate 3D images having a substantially reduced signal to noise ratio.

Imaging apparatus and methods using diffraction-based illumination are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a diffraction grating to redirect light from a light source toward a sample to thereby illuminate the sample. The example apparatus also includes an image sensor to detect a diffraction pattern created by the illuminated sample.

An apparatus and method to produce a hologram of an object includes an electromagnetic radiation assembly configured to receive a received electromagnetic radiation, such as light, from the object. The electromagnetic radiation assembly is further configured to diffract the received electromagnetic radiation and transmit a diffracted electromagnetic radiation. An image capture assembly is configured to capture an image of the diffracted electromagnetic radiation and produce the hologram of the object from the captured image.

An infrared image is captured while an infrared reference wavefront and an infrared imaging signal are incident on an image pixel array. A frequency domain infrared image is generated by performing a transform operation on the infrared image. A filtered frequency domain infrared image is generated by applying a mask to the frequency domain infrared image to isolate a frequency representing the interference between the infrared reference beam and the incoming infrared image signal. Intensity data is generated from the filtered frequency domain infrared image. The intensity data is incorporated as a voxel value in a composite image.