Digital holography-- coherent optics of the 21st century: introduction

摘要

The electron is dead, long live the photon. This opinion was pointed out at the beginning of this century to underscore the new significance of optics. However, one has to recognize that the rebirth of optics is due to the extraordinary development of electronics in the past 30 years. In particular, electronic data processing has been developing in a fascinating, enabling way during this time. Digital holography or electronic holography is an excellent example of this. In 1986 one of us (Juptner) gave a talk on robot vision and mentioned the possibility of three-dimensional (3D) vision for robots by means of electronically processed holograms. Our colleagues were excited about this. However, at the time we had to acknowledge the absence of not only the optoelectronics necessary to capture the hologram but also of the high-power data processing needed to achieve nearly real-time processing of the holograms. Today we are close to realizing these tools. Digital holography is at the beginning of an era of use as a common tool in science and technology.