Numerical heterodyne holography with two-dimensional photodetector arrays

We present an original heterodyne holography method for digital holography that relies on two-dimensional heterodyne detection to record the phase and the amplitude of a field. The technique has been tested on objects as much as 13 mm in size. Consistency checks were performed, and high-resolution images were computed. We show the requirement for a spatial filter to select properly sampled near-axis photons. Heterodyne holography is superior to off-axis digital holography for both field of view and resolution. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America.