Digital reconstruction of a hologram recorded using partially coherent illumination

The effect of using quasi-monochromatic, partially spatially coherent illumination in recording a hologram on the object information available via digital holographic reconstruction is studied theoretically. The analysis concerns digital lensless Fresnel holography. Three object illumination models: a stationary illumination field, an illumination field generated by an incoherent source in the near field of the object, and a Gaussian Schell-model source (GSM), are explored in detail. We investigate the imaging properties of a Fresnel digital holographic system employing these illumination fields, through study of the impulse and frequency responses. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.