Speckle noise reduction in digital holography due to angular diversity by spatial light modulator

The reconstructed amplitude distribution of digital holography suffers from the contamination of speckle noise. We introduced and demonstrated an approach using phase SLM (spatial light modulator) to reduce speckle noise in digital holography. Multiple holograms were recorded through different illumination angle via SLM modulation. The speckle noise in the reconstructed image is suppressed by averaging these fields. The modulation interval of SLM exceeds the minimum angle of uncorrelated speckle pattern. Both reflective and transmissive experiments were conducted using USAF test target as the sample. The results show that the speckle noise was obviously suppressed and the contrast dropped to 36% of the initial value using 25 different angles. With the help of SLM modulation of illumination angle, the operation speed, accuracy and stability of the experiment has been greatly improved.