A
method of recording and
reconstructing the wave
front emanating from an illuminated object. Coherent light from a
laser is split in two; one is a
reference beam and the other
illuminates the object. The waves scattered by the object and the
reference beam are recombined to form an interference
pattern on a photographic plate, the
hologram; this records both the
amplitude and the
phase of the scattered light.
When the hologram is then illuminated by light from a laser or other point source, two images are produced - one is virtual but the other is real and can be viewed directly. Thus a 3-dimensional image of the object can be produced.