Contact printing of on-axis computer-generated hologram on silver halide emulsion

The use of silver halide as a material for noninterferometric recording of computer-generated holograms is investigated. It is shown that outstanding fidelity can be achieved by means of contact printing, using a properly designed binary mask. The success is attributed to the observation that a remarkably flat phase profile across each cell of the binary CGH pattern can be achieved despite the uneven surface-relief and refractive index profiles. In particular, the performance of two Dammann grating array generators (fan-out of 15×15 and 16×16, respectively) copied onto the silver halide emulsion is described. The results show that the material is suitable for a wide range of applications in computer-generated holography