Multiple Aperture Shear-Interferometry (MArS) is a shape measurement technique that uses multi-spot illumination to overcome the problem of a limited observation aperture of conventional interferometric techniques and thus considerably simplifies the measurement of optical aspheres and freeform surfaces. Using a shear interferometry setup, MArS measures the coherence function in order to obtain wave vector distributions created from multi-spot LED illumination reflected by the specimen. Based on the wave vectors we reconstruct the surface topography of aspheric lenses using an inverse ray tracing approach and prior knowledge about the individual source locations. We present the topographic measurement of two aspheric lenses with different global curvature radii measured with the same identical reflection setup. In addition, we examine the achievable accuracy of the wave vector measurement using a single light source to find physical limits of MArS.

Flash-profilometry is a novel measurement approach based on the fullfield lensless acquisition of spectral holograms. It is based on spectral sampling of the mutual coherence function and the subsequent calculation of its propagation along the optical axis several times the depth-of-field. Numerical propagation of the entire coherence function, rather than solely the complex amplitude, allows to digitally reproduce a complete scanning white-light interferometric (WLI) measurement. Hence, the corresponding 3D surface profiling system presented here achieves precision in the low nanometer range along an axial measurement range of several hundred micrometers. Due to the lensless setup, it is compact, immune against dispersion effects and lightweight. Additionally, because of the spectral sampling approach, it is faster than conventional coherence scanning WLI and robust against mechanical distortions, such as vibrations and rigid body movements. Flash-profilometry is therefore suitable for a wide range of applications, such as surface metrology, optical inspection, and material science and appears to be particularly suitable for a direct integration into production environments.

Digital holography allows for the recording and reconstruction of three-dimensional images using interference and diffraction principles. The propagation of light from the hologram plane to the reconstruction plane is a crucial step, often achieved through Fresnel propagation, a method that inherently transforms the reconstructed pixel pitch to provide diffraction-limited imaging. However, the accuracy of this method is limited by the Fresnel approximation, especially in applications such as digital holographic microscopy. We present a simple method that significantly improves the accuracy of the Fresnel approximation by incorporating higher orders of the binomial approximation. We validate the effectiveness of our approach through high numerical aperture simulations and experimental results, demonstrating superior sub-micron resolution and reduced distortions compared with standard Fresnel propagation.

In this paper, we present a multicolor display via referenceless phase holography (RELPH). RELPH permits the display of full optical wave fields (amplitude and phase) using two liquid crystal phase-only spatial light modulators in a Michelson-interferometer-based arrangement. Complex wave fields corresponding to arbitrary real or artificial 3D scenes are decomposed into two mutually coherent wave fields of constant amplitude whose phase distributions are modulated onto the wave fields reflected by the respective light modulators. Here, we present the realization of that concept in two different ways: firstly, via temporal multiplexing using a single setup, switching between wavelengths for temporal integration of the respective wavefields; secondly, using spatial multiplexing of different wavelengths with multiple Michelson-based setups; and finally, we present an approach to magnify the 3D scenes displayed by light modulators with limited space–bandwidth product for a comfortable viewing experience.

Today’s 3D dynamic holographic display techniques suffer from severe limitations due to an available number of pixels that is several orders of magnitude lower than required by conventional approaches. We introduce a solution to this problem by introducing the concept of functional pixels. This concept is based on pixels that individually spatially modulate the amplitude and phase of incident light with a polynomial function, rather than just a constant phase or amplitude. We show that even in the simple case of a linear modulation of the phase, the pixel count can be drastically reduced up to 3 orders of magnitude while preserving most of the image details. This scheme can be easily implemented with already existing technology, such as micro mirror arrays that provide tip, tilt and piston movement. Even though the individual pixels need to be technologically more advanced, the comparably small number of such pixels required to form a display may pave the way towards true holographic dynamic 3D displays.

We show that the shape of a surface can be unambiguously determined from investigating the coherence function of a wave-field reflected by the surface and without the requirement of a reference wave. Spatio-temporal sampling facilitates the identification of temporal shifts of the coherence function that correspond to finite height differences of the surface. Evaluating these finite differences allows for the reconstruction of the surface using a numerical integration procedure. Spatial sampling of the coherence function is provided by a shear interferometer whereas temporal sampling is achieved by means of a Soleil-Babinet compensator. This low coherence profiling method allows to determine the shape of an object with sub-micrometer resolution and over a large unambiguity range, although it does not require any isolation against mechanical vibration. The approach therefore opens up a new avenue for precise, rugged optical metrology suitable for industrial in-line applications.