The phase information of a complex field is routinely obtained using coherent measurement techniques as, e.g., interferometry or holography. The obtained measurement result is subject to a $2\pi$ ambiguity and is often referred to as wrapped phase. Phase-unwrapping algorithms (PUAs) are commonly employed to remove this ambiguity and, hence, obtain the absolute phase. However, implementing PUAs can be computationally intensive, and the accuracy of those algorithms may be low. Recently, the transport of intensity equation (TIE) has been proposed as a simple and practical alternative for obtaining the absolute phase map. Nevertheless, an efficient implementation of this technique has not yet been made. In this work, we propose an accurate solution for the TIE-based PUA that does not require the use of wave-propagation techniques, as previously reported TIE-based approaches. The proposed method calculates directly the axial derivative of the intensity from the wrapped phase when considering the correct propagation method. This is done in order to bypass the time-consuming wave-propagation techniques employed in similar methods. The analytical evaluation of this parameter allows obtaining an accurate solution when unwrapping the phase map with low computational effort. This work further introduces the use of the iterative TIE-PUA that, in a few steps, improves significantly the accuracy of the final absolute phase map, even in the presence of noise or aliasing of the wrapped data. The high accuracy and utility of the developed TIE-PUA technique is proven by both numerical simulations and experiments for various objects.

Phase retrieval based on the Transport of Intensity Equation (TIE) has shown to be a powerful tool to obtain the phase of complex fields. Recently, it has been proven that the performance of TIE techniques can be improved when using unequally spaced measurement planes. In this paper, an algorithm is presented that recovers accurately the phase of a complex objects from a set of intensity measurements obtained at unequal plane separations. This technique employs multiple band-pass filters in the frequency domain of the axial derivative and uses these specific frequency bands for the calculation of the final phase. This provides highest accuracy for TIE based phase recovery giving minimal phase error for a given set of measurement planes. Moreover, because each of these band-pass filters has a distinct sensitivity to noise, a new plane selection strategy is derived that equalizes the error contribution of all frequency bands. It is shown that this new separation strategy allows controlling the final error of the retrieved phase without using a priori information of the object. This is an advantage compared to previous optimum phase retrieval techniques. In order to show the stability and robustness of this new technique, we present the numerical simulations.

Deterministic single beam phase retrieval techniques based on the transport of intensity equation (TIE) use the axial intensity derivative obtained from a series of intensities recorded along the propagation axis as an input to the TIE-based solver. The common belief is that, when reducing the error present in the axial intensity derivative, there will be minimal error in the retrieved phase. Thus, reported optimization schemes of measurement condition focuses on the minimization of error in the axial intensity derivative. As it is shown in this contribution, this assumption is not correct and leads to underestimating the value of plane separation, which increases the phase retrieval errors and sensitivity to noise of the TIE-based measurement system. Therefore, in this paper, a detailed analysis that shows the existence of an optimal separation that minimizes the error in the retrieved phase for a given TIE-based solver is carried out. The developed model is used to derive analytical expressions that provide an optimal plane separation for a given number of planes and level of noise for the case of equidistant plane separation. The obtained results are derived for the widely used Fourier-transform-based TIE solver, but it is shown that they can also be applied to multigrid-based techniques.

For several years, scientific, industrial, and biological fields have benefited from knowledge of phase information, which allows for the revealing of hidden features of various objects. An alternative to interferometry is single-beam phase retrieval techniques that are based on the transport of intensity equation, which describes the relation between the axial derivative of the intensity and the phase distribution for a given plane in the Fresnel region. The estimation of the axial intensity derivative is obtained from a series of intensity measurements, where the accuracy is subject to an optimum separation between the measurement planes depending on the number of planes, the level of noise, and the actual object phase distribution. In this Letter, a quantitative analysis of the error in estimated axial derivative is carried out and a model is reported that describes the interdependence between these parameters. The results of this work allow for estimation of the optimum separation between measurement planes with minimal error in the axial derivative.

In this paper, two solutions are proposed to improve the quality of a large image that is reconstructed in front of the observer in a near-eye holographic display. One of the proposed techniques, to the best of our knowledge, is the first wide-angle solution that successfully uses a non-coherent LED source. It is shown that the resulting image when employing these types of sources has less speckle noise but a resolution comparable to that obtained with coherent light. These results are explained by the developed theory, which also shows that the coherence effect is angle varying. Furthermore, for the used pupil forming display architecture, it is necessary to compute a large virtual nonparaxial hologram. We demonstrate that for this hologram there exists a small support region that has a frequency range capable of encoding information generated by a single point of the object. This small support region is beneficial since it enables to propose a wide-angle rigorous CGH computational method, which allows processing very dense cloud of points that represents three-dimensional objects. This is our second proposed key development. To determine the corresponding support region, the concept of local wavefront spatial curvature is introduced, which is proportional to the tangent line to the local spatial frequency of the spherical wavefront. The proposed analytical solution shows that the size of this area strongly depends on the transverse and longitudinal coordinate of the corresponding object point.

A computer-generated hologram (CGH) allows synthetizing view of 3D scene of real or virtual objects. Additionally, CGH with wide-angle view offers the possibility of having a 3D experience for large objects. An important feature to consider in the calculation of CGHs is occlusion between surfaces because it provides correct perception of encoded 3D scenes. Although there is a vast family of occlusion culling algorithms, none of these, at the best of our knowledge, consider occlusion when calculating CGHs with wide-angle view. For that reason, in this work we propose an occlusion culling algorithm for wide-angle CGHs that uses the Fourier-type phase added stereogram (PAS). It is shown that segmentation properties of the PAS can be used for setting efficient conditions for occlusion culling of hidden areas. The method is efficient because it enables processing of dense cloud of points. The investigated case has 24 million of point sources. Moreover, quality of the occluded wide-angle CGHs is tested by two propagation methods. The first propagation technique quantifies quality of point reproduction of calculated CGH, while the second method enables the quality assessment of the occlusion culling operation over an object of complex shape. Finally, the applicability of proposed occlusion PAS algorithm is tested by synthetizing wide-angle CGHs that are numerically and optically reconstructed.