Nonlinear filtering method of zero-order term suppression for improving the image quality in off-axis holography

In order to alleviate the crosstalk between the reconstructed image and the zero-order image in off-axis digital holography, this paper proposes a novel nonlinear filtering method to suppress the zero-order image. Its feasibility in eliminating the zero-order term is verified by the theoretical analyses, and its robustness is confirmed by applying the appropriately designed nonlinear filter to both a Fresnel hologram and an image plane hologram. Experimental results show that the image reconstructed from the proposed method has the characteristics of enhanced image contrast and improved signal-to-noise ratio. This method also accelerated the speed of processing via a simple calculation procedure.