Extending the Depth of Field beyond Geometrical Imaging Limitations Using Phase Noise as a Focus Measure in Multiwavelength Digital Holography

Multi-incidence digital holographic profilometry with high axial resolution and enlarged measurement range

In this work, multi-incident digital holographic profilometry for microscale measurements is presented. This technique assembles the set of object fields from captured holograms for generation of the longitudinal scanning function (LSF). Numerical propagation is used for refocusing, and thus, the LSF can be determined at any given plane along the optical axis. The LSF takes maximum value for in focus object points, which are used to obtain full-field height distribution of the sample. This principle is the base of proposed measurement technique. Three capturing holograms strategies, which give control over the shape of the LSF, unambiguous measurement range, axial resolution, and noise immunity, are discussed. The conclusions of this work are supported by numerical and experimental results.

Multiwavelength holography: height measurements despite axial motion of several wavelengths during exposure

Interferometric measurements of rotating objects face an axial motion component if the optical axis of the measurement system is not pointing towards the axis of rotation. In a typical interferometer, axial motion of half a wavelength reduces the interference contrast to zero. Our setup compensates for this axial component by an adapted variation of the reference path length during exposure utilizing a piezoelectric actuator. We present off-center measurements on a cylinder, rotating with different angular velocities. The repeatability of these measurements is dominated by motion blur, which demonstrates that the compensation of the axial motion works accurately.

Robust autofocusing method for multi-wavelength lensless imaging

Lensless imaging based on multi-wavelength phase retrieval becomes a promising technology widely used as it has simple acquisition, miniaturized size and low-cost setup. However, measuring the sample-to-sensor distance with high accuracy, which is the key for high-resolution reconstruction, is still a challenge. In this work, we propose a multi-wavelength criterion to realize autofocusing modulation, i.e., achieving much higher accuracy in determining the sample-to-sensor distance, compared to the conventional methods. Three beams in different spectrums are adopted to illuminate the sample, and the resulting holograms are recorded by a CCD camera. The patterns calculated by performing back propagation of the recorded holograms, with exhaustively searched sample-to-sensor distance value, are adopted to access the criterion. Image sharpness can be accessed and the optimal sample-to-sensor distance can be finely determined by targeting the valley of the curve given by the criterion. Through our novel multi-wavelength based autofocusing strategy and executing further phase retrieval process, high-resolution images can be finally retrieved. The applicability and robustness of our method is validated both in simulations and experiments. Our technique provides a useful tool for multi-wavelength lensless imaging under limited experimental conditions.