Coherence holography: Holographic imaging with coherence function

Abstract

A technique of imaging with a spatial coherence function, referred to as coherence holography, is proposed. A hologram of a three-dimensional object is recorded with coherent light in the same manner as in conventional holography, but the hologram is illuminated with spatially incoherent light to reconstruct the object as the three-dimensional distribution of a spatial coherence function, rather than as the amplitude or the intensity distribution of the optical field. A simple optical geometry for direct visualization of the reconstructed coherence image is proposed, and the results of preliminary experiments of a computer-generated coherence hologram (CGCH) are presented, which demonstrate the potential of CGCH as a means for optical coherence tomography and profilometry.