Digital holography with ultimate sensitivity

Michel Gross (1) , Michael Atlan (1)

1 LKB (Lhomond) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel

We propose a variant of the heterodyne holography scheme that combines the properties of off-axis and phase-shifting holography. This scheme makes it possible to filter off numerically the zero-order image alias and the technical noise of the reference. It is then possible to record and reconstruct holographic images at an extremely low signal level. We show experimentally that the sensitivity of the method is limited only by the quantum nature of photons.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Michel Gross, Michael Atlan. Digital holography with ultimate sensitivity. Optics Letters, 2007, 32 (8), pp.909. ⟨hal-00265902⟩