On-speckle suppression in IR digital holography

High-efficiency static speckle-suppression method based on a combination of beam splitting cavity and liquid-core fiber

Current static speckle suppression methods have an extremely large system size and unsatisfactory performance. This study proposes a device called beam-splitting cavity (BSC) and establishes a model of speckle suppression based on the combination of BSC and a liquid-core fiber. Subsequently, a passive static speckle suppression system is constructed and the key factors affecting the speckle contrast are studied. Consequently, the speckle contrast was reduced from 30.2% to 3.1%, which is below the human-eye speckle-discrimination limit (<4%). The scheme consists entirely of passive optical elements, which are more applicable to projectors than the traditional static and dynamic speckle-suppression methods.

Deep learning for digital holography: a review

Recent years have witnessed the unprecedented progress of deep learning applications in digital holography (DH). Nevertheless, there remain huge potentials in how deep learning can further improve performance and enable new functionalities for DH. Here, we survey recent developments in various DH applications powered by deep learning algorithms. This article starts with a brief introduction to digital holographic imaging, then summarizes the most relevant deep learning techniques for DH, with discussions on their benefits and challenges. We then present case studies covering a wide range of problems and applications in order to highlight research achievements to date. We provide an outlook of several promising directions to widen the use of deep learning in various DH applications.

Biospeckle Analysis and Biofilm Electrostatic Tests, Two Useful Methods in Microbiology

The development of more sensitive methodologies, capable of quickly detecting and monitoring a microbial population present in a specific biological matrix, as well as performing to allow for the study of all its metabolic changes (e.g., during the formation of biofilm) to occur, is an essential requirement for both well-being and the food industry. Two techniques, in particular, have gained the attention of scientists: The first is “biospeckle”, an optical technique representing an innovative tool for applications in food quality, food safety, and nutraceuticals. With this technique, we can quickly evaluate and monitor the presence of bacteria (or their proliferation) in a solid or liquid biological matrix. In addition, the technique is helpful in quantifying and optimizing the correct storage time of the pro-biotics, if they are entrapped in matrices such as alginate and follow their survival rate in simulated gastro-intestinal conditions. A second technique with great chances is the “biofilm electrostatic test” (BET). BET undoubtedly represents a fast, simple, and highly reproducible tool suitable for admitting the evaluation of the in vitro bacterial capacity in order to adhere through an electrostatic interaction with a pyro-electrified carrier after only 2 h of incubation. BET could represent the way for a quick and standardized evaluation of bacterial resistance among biofilm-producing microorganisms through a fast evaluation of the potential presence of the biofilm.

Comparative study of multi-look processing for phase map de-noising in digital Fresnel holographic interferometry

This paper presents a comparative study of multi-look approaches for de-noising phase maps from digital holographic interferometry. A database of 160 simulated phase fringe patterns with eight different phase fringe patterns with fringe diversity was computed. For each fringe pattern, 20 realistic noise realizations are generated in order to simulate a multi-look process with 20 inputs. A set of 22 de-noising algorithms was selected and processed for each simulation. Three approaches for multi-look processing are evaluated. Quantitative appraisal is obtained using two metrics. The results show good agreement for algorithm rankings obtained with both metrics. One singular and highly practical result of the study is that a multi-look approach with average looks before noise processing performs better than averaging computed with all de-noised looks. The results also demonstrate that the two-dimensional windowed Fourier transform filtering exhibits the best performance in all cases and that the block-matching 3D (BM3D) algorithm is second in the ranking.

Resolution gain in space-time digital holography by self-assembling of the object frequencies

Space-time digital holography (STDH) exploits the object motion to record the hologram in a hybrid ST domain. This representation adds new capabilities to conventional DH, e.g., unlimited field of view and variable phase shifting. This is the best candidate for imaging biological samples flowing in microfluidic channels. Here, we show that STDH is able to improve the spatial resolution as well. Different from other super-resolution approaches, stitching between holograms or their spectra is no longer required. Moreover, we introduce a new oblique STDH modality to record and process hybrid ST representations. This allows improving resolution in 2D with one single object scan, paving the way to the use of STDH for super-resolution imaging onboard microfluidic devices.

Speckle noise reduction for digital holographic images using multi-scale convolutional neural networks

In this Letter, we propose a fast speckle noise reduction method with only a single reconstructed image based on convolutional neural networks. The proposed network has multi-sized kernels that can capture the speckle noise component effectively from digital holographic images. For robust noise reduction performance, the network is trained with a large noisy image dataset that has object-dependent noise and a wide range of noise levels. The experimental results show the fast, robust, and outstanding speckle noise reduction performance of the proposed approach.

Analysis of the Quantization Noise in Discrete Wavelet Transform Filters for Image Processing

In this paper, we analyze the noise quantization effects in coefficients of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) filter banks for image processing. We propose the implementation of the DWT method, making it possible to determine the effective bit-width of the filter banks coefficients at which the quantization noise does not significantly affect the image processing results according to the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). The dependence between the PSNR of the DWT image quality on the wavelet and the bit-width of the wavelet filter coefficients is analyzed. The formulas for determining the minimal bit-width of the filter coefficients at which the processed image achieves high quality (PSNR ≥ 40 dB) are given. The obtained theoretical results were confirmed through the simulation of DWT for a test image using the calculated bit-width values. All considered algorithms operate with fixed-point numbers, which simplifies their hardware implementation on modern devices: field-programmable gate array (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.

Strategies for reducing speckle noise in digital holography

Digital holography (DH) has emerged as one of the most effective coherent imaging technologies. The technological developments of digital sensors and optical elements have made DH the primary approach in several research fields, from quantitative phase imaging to optical metrology and 3D display technologies, to name a few. Like many other digital imaging techniques, DH must cope with the issue of speckle artifacts, due to the coherent nature of the required light sources. Despite the complexity of the recently proposed de-speckling methods, many have not yet attained the required level of effectiveness. That is, a universal denoising strategy for completely suppressing holographic noise has not yet been established. Thus the removal of speckle noise from holographic images represents a bottleneck for the entire optics and photonics scientific community. This review article provides a broad discussion about the noise issue in DH, with the aim of covering the best-performing noise reduction approaches that have been proposed so far. Quantitative comparisons among these approaches will be presented.

Digital hologram transformations for RGB color holographic display with independent image magnification and translation in 3D

A new framework for in-plane transformations of digital holograms (DHs) is proposed, which provides improved control over basic geometrical features of holographic images reconstructed optically in full color. The method is based on a Fourier hologram equivalent of the adaptive affine transformation technique [Opt. Express18, 8806 (2010)OPEXFF1094-408710.1364/OE.18.008806]. The solution includes four elementary geometrical transformations that can be performed independently on a full-color 3D image reconstructed from an RGB hologram: (i) transverse magnification; (ii) axial translation with minimized distortion; (iii) transverse translation; and (iv) viewing angle rotation. The independent character of transformations (i) and (ii) constitutes the main result of the work and plays a double role: (1) it simplifies synchronization of color components of the RGB image in the presence of mismatch between capture and display parameters; (2) provides improved control over position and size of the projected image, particularly the axial position, which opens new possibilities for efficient animation of holographic content. The approximate character of the operations (i) and (ii) is examined both analytically and experimentally using an RGB circular holographic display system. Additionally, a complex animation built from a single wide-aperture RGB Fourier hologram is presented to demonstrate full capabilities of the developed toolset.

Full field-of-view digital lens-free holography for weak-scattering objects based on grating modulation

Grating-based single-shot digital lens-free holography with spatial spectral multiplexing is proposed to realize full field-of-view (FOV) imaging for weak-scattering objects. Multiple object waves are generated by a one-dimensional grating that is placed in near contact with the object to avoid the cross talk among different diffraction orders during reconstruction. A multiplexed off-axis hologram is created by interference between the object waves and reference wave and captured by an image sensor in one shot. Multiple imaging areas corresponding to the captured object waves can be simultaneously retrieved during reconstruction. A formula which guarantees full FOV imaging without cross talk or information loss is presented. The imaging experiments of a USAF resolution target are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this method.

Coherent noise reduction in digital holographic microscopy by averaging multiple holograms recorded with a multimode laser

In digital holographic microscopy (DHM), it is undesirable to observe coherent noise in the reconstructed images. The sources of the noise are mainly the parasitic interference fringes caused by multiple reflections and the speckle pattern caused by the optical scattering on the object surface. Here we propose a noise reduction approach in DHM by averaging multiple holograms recorded with a multimode laser. Based on the periodicity of the temporal coherence of a multimode semiconductor laser, we acquire a series of holograms by changing the optical path length difference between the reference beam and object beam. Because of the use of low coherence light, we can remove the parasitic interference fringes caused by multiple reflections in the holograms. In addition, the coherent noise patterns change in this process due to the different optical paths. Therefore, the coherent noise can be reduced by averaging the multiple reconstructions with uncorrelated noise patterns. Several experiments have been carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for coherent noise reduction in DHM. It is shown a remarkable improvement both in amplitude imaging quality and phase measurement accuracy.

Reduction of speckle noise in holographic images using spatial jittering in numerical reconstructions

This Letter presents an easy, fast, and efficient single-shot method to reduce speckle noise in digital Fresnel holography. In this method, several images from a single hologram are reconstructed by introducing spatial displacements in the Fresnel kernel. Spatial jitters produce images with different speckle positions. Averaging the set of numerically produced images leads to a strong reduction of speckle noise in both amplitude and phase difference images. The experimental results show the suitability of the proposed approach and confirm its applicability to digital holographic interferometry.