HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE IN BLEACHED EMULSION OF N DIVERGENT OBJECT BEAMS GENERATED BY A 2-DIMENSIONAL REGULAR ARRAY - ANALYSIS OF THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of multiplexed holograms of N object w aves recorded as volume-phase holograms in bleached silver halide emul sion are experimentally analyzed and compared with those of diffuse-ob ject holograms. We introduce two types of SNR: one belonging to the sp atial matrix itself, and the other, the overall SNR, for which the ang ular range of the matrix distribution was compared with the primary di ffuse object. The experimental results obtained show that, even though the same range of spatial frequencies is maintained, the total number of waves that come from the matrix distribution affects the measureme nts, so the interrelation between the spatial-frequency distribution o f noise and the number of storage waves is obtained, and the minimum S NR can be evaluated for diffuse objects. (C) 1996 Optical Society of A merica