Imaging properties of scanning holographic microscopy

Scanning heterodyne holography is an alternative way of capturing three-dimensional information on a scattering or fluorescent object. We analyze the properties of the images obtained by this novel imaging process. We describe the possibility of varying the coherence of the system from a process linear in amplitude to a process linear in intensity by changing the detection mode. We illustrate numerically the properties of the three-dimensional point-spread function of the system and compare it with that of a conventional imaging system with equal numerical aperture. We describe how it is possible, by an appropriate choice of the reconstruction algorithm, to obtain an ideal transfer function equal to unity up to the cutoff frequency, even in the presence of aberrations. Some practical implementation issues are also discussed. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(00)01703-8].