Reflected-light pulsed-laser holography

In this paper we present the results of recent experiments with a high-performance stop-action holography system. The system is centered around a giant-pulse ruby laser oscillator-amplifier combination that produces 30 nsec pulses containing up to 10 joules of energy. The exceptional property of this system is that the output is essentially fully coherent at full pulse-energy. As a result, high-quality holograms can be made in reflected light from subjects that occupy a volume of several cubic meters. Holograms of diffusely reflecting subjects made with this system have consistently yielded reconstructions equal in brightness and image-quality to the best gas-laser holograms. These results were obtained in spite of the fact that parts of the scene were moving at velocities up to 10 m/sec. In other words, successful reconstructions were obtained from parts of the scene which had moved through distances greater than one-half wavelength during exposure of the hologram.