Twin image in holography

ID: twin-image-in-holography

For a uniform on-axis plane wave reference, choose its constant wave phase to be zero, so . The reconstructed cross terms are then proportional to and its complex conjugate . This pair creates the twin image in holography. An outgoing curved wavefront and its conjugate have opposite curvature: under forward propagation, one can appear to diverge from a virtual image while the other converges to a real image. In in-line holography their depths differ, but a defocused member still overlaps the other. This is the same conjugation of spatial wave phase used in phase conjugation, although a transmission hologram here launches both components forward rather than automatically creating a returning phase-conjugate mirror.

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