Image reconstruction only by phase data in phase-shifting digital holography

We describe data compression in phase-shifting digital holography. We demonstrate by experimentation that an image of a diffusely reflecting object can be reconstructed only by phase data of the derived complex amplitude. It is shown that reduction of the bit depth of the phase data does not seriously damage the image even down to 1 bit. We observe enhancement of halo in the image with low bit depths. This tendency is verified quantitatively by a one-dimensional simulation. Our procedure for smoothing the images that result from the data-compression methods is shown to be effective.