Digital in-line holography in thick optical systems:: application to visualization in pipes

We apply digital in-line holography to image opaque objects through a thick plano-concave pipe. Opaque fibers and opaque particles are considered. Analytical expression of the intensity distribution in the CCD sensor plane is derived using a generalized Fresnel transform. The proposed model has the ability to deal with various pipe shapes and thicknesses and compensates for the lack of versatility of classical digital in-line holography models. Holograms obtained with a 12 mm thick plano-concave pipe are then reconstructed using a fractional Fourier transform. This method allows us to get rid of astigmatism. Numerical and experimental results are presented. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.