A novel non-diffractive reconstruction method for digital holographic microscopy

We present a new method for reconstructing digitally recorded off-axis Fresnel holograms. Currently-used reconstruction methods are based on the simulation and propagation of a reference wave that is diffracted by the hologram. This procedure introduces a twin-image and a zero-order term which are inherent to the diffraction phenomenon. These terms perturb the reconstruction and limit the field of view. Our new approach splits the reconstruction process into two parts. First, we recover the amplitude and the phase in the camera plane from the measured hologram intensity. Our algorithm is based on the hypothesis of a slowly varying object wave which interferes with a more rapidly varying reference wave. In a second step, we propagate this complex wave to refocus it using the Fresnel transform. We therefore avoid the presence of the twin-image and zero-order interference terms. This new approach is flexible and can be adapted easily to complicated experimental setups. We demonstrate its feasibility in the case of digital holographic microscopy and present results for the imaging of living neurons.