Elimination of zero-order and conjugate images in off-axis digital holography

In this paper, a new digital method has been developed for eliminating the zero-order and conjugate image in off-axis digital holography. The method consists of filtering the spatial frequencies associated with these undesired terms (the zero-order and conjugate images) in the computed Fourier transform plane of the hologram multiplied with computer simulated original reference wave (written as (RIh)). An important conclusion is that, without the need for additional shift-spectrum process, the spectrum of real image always appears in the center of the spectrum plane and never shifts. This brings us some convenient to design a filtering window. The theoretical analysis and the corresponding simulation and experiment results are given. As the zero-order and conjugate image are eliminated, both the contrast and brightness of the real image are enhanced and the image quality is improved. Meanwhile, the process of designing a filtering window is simple and convenient.