A comparison of several endoscopes as object image carriers in pulsed digit
al holography is presented. Three multicore flexible fiber endoscopes of di
fferent spatial resolution and one rigid endoscope are investigated. The fo
ur endoscopes are integrated in a setup for the recording of digital hologr
ams on a CCD camera. A double-pulsed ruby laser is used as the light source
. A spatial carrier is introduced by an off-axis reference beam, which perm
its quantitative evaluation of the phase difference between two holograms r
ecorded with a short time separation (5-600 mus). From reported studies it
may be inferred that the quality of the phase maps so derived. from digital
holographic interferometry has a strong correlation to the spatial resolut
ion of the multicore fiber used in these endoscopes. With the endoscopic te
chnique combined with pulsed digital holography a number of useful applicat
ions tin areas such as medical endoscopy, micromechanics, and microelectron
ics) are envisaged for which access to the objects of interest is otherwise
difficult. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.