Optical Properties of Holographic Images

Abstract

Four different types of holographic imaging systems are established, which are realized by using either of the two first-order reconstructed image-forming wavefronts, and by illuminating the hologram from the front side or the back side in the reconstruction. It is shown that either of the four systems can be made convergent or divergent, leading to real or virtual images of at least part of the real object space. A new pair of properties of optical systems is introduced: monoform and biform, meaning that the total real object space is either imaged into a space of one kind only, or is split up into a real and a virtual part. These properties, in conventional imaging associated with the properties divergent and convergent, are independent in holography. The cardinal parameters (focal points, principal points, nodal points, and focal lengths) of the four arrangements are discussed, and image coordinates and magnification are expressed in terms of these system parameters.