ON-AXIS BINARY-AMPLITUDE COMPUTER-GENERATED HOLOGRAMS

On-axis holograms are synthesized on positive binary-amplitude recordi ng media. These holograms present unique characteristics: The signal i s reconstructed around the optical axis without overlapping orders and it is the brightest order in the reconstruction plane, the coding pro cedure is fast, and the holograms can be implemented on low informatio n content recording devices. Various examples and applications are dis cussed and the method is illustrated with an experimentally implemente d array illuminator.