Polarization selection for reconstructed wavefronts and application to polarizing microholography

This article reports a phenomenon allowing the phase reference beam of the "two-beam, carrier-frequency" holography method of Leith and Upatnieks to be used as a polarization reference as well. A technique for utilizing this for selecting and recording a particular linearly polarized component of the image carrying beam is described and applied to a unique arrangement for microholography. The waves reconstructed by the technique are described mathematically and compared to waves passed by a polarizing microscope. Experimental confirmation of these observations is presented.