Digital holography using LCOS microdisplay as input three-dimensional object

Abstract Standard utilization of LCOS microdisplays in digital holography has been focused mostly on displaying holograms that are either optically recorded or numerically designed. Here we introduce a new application scope based on mapping of the object height to the phase modulation values of the LCOS. The phase of the incident light planar wave front is modulated by the LCOS in the same way as it would be modulated by a physical object. Such an approach opens a wide range of possibilities in digital holography systems due to flexibility in choosing appropriate scale of input objects and appropriate optical setup configuration. In particular, the possibilities include dynamic measurements as well as distant holographic applications. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated experimentally in three different application problems. First example refers to a static deformation measurement of a real physical object, the second example shows the detection of vibration modes of numerically generated oscillating membrane, while the third example describes monitoring of the crystal profile changes near the facet edge.