Coded Aperture-Based Self-wavefront Interference Using Transverse Splitting Holography

Self-wavefront interference transverse splitting holography (SWITSH) is a recently developed holographic technique to solve a fundamental problem in the manufacturing of large-area diffractive lenses. In SWITSH, a low NA diffractive lens modulates the light from an object, and the modulated light is interfered with light from the same object that reaches beyond the aperture of the diffractive lens. The resulting self-interference hologram is processed with the pre-recorded point spread hologram using the Lucy-Richardson-Rosen algorithm. Since the self-interference hologram is formed by collecting light beyond the NA of the diffractive lens, it acquires the object information corresponding to the higher spatial frequencies of the object. Consequently, a higher imaging resolution is obtained in SWITSH compared to that of direct imaging with a diffractive lens. In the proof-of-concept study, a resolution improvement of an order was demonstrated. However, the optical architecture of the first version of SWITSH was not optimal, as the strength of the self-interference signal was weak. In this study, we improve SWITSH using different coded apertures, such as axicon and spiral element. An improvement in the strength of the self-interference signal was noticed with the axicon and spiral element. Simulation and experimental results using a diffractive lens, axicon and spiral element are presented.