Phase based method for location of the centers of side bands in spatial frequency domain in off-axis digital holographic microcopy

• Phase based method for locating center of side band is proposed to remove the tilt.
• The spectrum distribution is analyzed theoretically in the DH configuration.
• The amplitude maximum of the hologram spectrum can’t judge out its center correctly.
• The unwrapped phase of the hologram spectrum can judge out its center correctly.

The digital holography (DH) off-axis geometry in microscope configuration introduces the tilt phase aberration in construction, resulting in the reconstructed image distortion. The two typical methods of the tilt aberration compensation, digital reference wavefront method and spectrum centering method, all require the hologram spectrum's centering judgment of side band as a precondition. However, it is difficult to judge the center location of side band by the spectral amplitude maximum due to the presence of the quadratic phase aberration, thus producing the residual tilt phase aberration. Therefore, the method for location of the center of side band based on the unwrapped phase in spatial frequency domain is proposed in the pre-magnification configuration. The Fourier spectrum of the hologram is a complex function and its unwrapped phase distribution always appears the extremum corresponding to the carrier frequency. The correct hologram spectrum's center location of side band can be obtained by judging its unwrapped phase maximum, which makes assure of the tilt aberration compensation in the pre-magnification configuration. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to the phase imaging of the micro-hole array, phase grating and phase steps.