Application of three-dimensional spatial correlation properties of coherent noise in phase noise suppression for digital holographic microscopy

• An approach is provided to investigate 3D coherent noise field for DHM.
• The experiments are performed to investigate the 3D phase noise properties.
• Reduction of phase noise by use of multiple holograms.
• Shifting longitudinally camera with the step more than correlation length of coherent noise field.
• The proposed method is simple, effective and in-situ investigation techniques.

The inherited coherent noise degrades the phase imaging quality in digital holographic microscopy (DHM). To overcome the problem, an experimental investigation on the three-dimensional (3D) spatial correlation properties of coherent noise is carried out. Multiple blank holograms are recorded without any specimen in DHM setup by consecutively shifting camera along the optical axis, and a series of phase distribution of coherent noise can be obtained by numerical reconstruction. Then, based on the phase distributions, the lateral and longitudinal correlation properties of coherent noise are analyzed by a discrete correlation algorithm. Furthermore, a method for reducing phase noise is proposed by use of multiple holograms. Firstly, a series of holograms are recorded by shifting the camera longitudinally with the step more than longitudinal correlation length of coherent noise field. Secondly, the reconstruction of the holograms leads to a series of phase images of object, in which the coherent noise has different patterns. Consequently, by averaging the phase images, the reductions of phase noise are achieved. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by imaging of the resolution targets and the grating.