Holographic lens with aberration correction

Claim 1

A method of imaging an object field, comprising the steps of: constructing a plurality of Fresnel zone plates, each of said zone plates being capable of imaging with substantial exclusivity a single incremental volume of said object field different from the incremental volumes imaged by any others of the plurality of zone plates, the total of said incremental object field volumes being that portion of the object field to be imaged, whereby each of said volumes may be made small enough to be imaged by its associated Fresnel zone plate without significant aberration, illuminating said object field with electromagnetic radiation, and positioning said plurality of Fresnel zone plates relative to the object field to image their associated object field incremental volumes in a manner to form a composite image of the object field.

Claim 2

A method of imaging an object field, comprising the steps of: constructing a plurality of Fresnel zone plates, each of said zone plates being capable of imaging with substantial exclusivity a single incremental volume of said object field different from the incremental volumes imaged by any others of the plurality of zone plates, the total of said incremental object field volumes being that portion of the object field to be imaged, whereby each of said volumes may be made small enough to be imaged by its associated Fresnel zone plate without significant aberration, illuminating said object field with electromagnetic radiation, and positioning said plurality of Fresnel zone plates relative to the object field to image their associated object field incremental volumes in a manner to form a composite image of the object field.

Claim 3

A method of constructing a holographic lens capable of imaging a wide object field with a low level of aberration, comprising the steps of: exposing a three-dimensional photosensitive media simultaneously to a first wave front of coherent light having a first center of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media and a second wave front of coherent light having a second center of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media, said first and second wave fronts being mutually coherent, thereby forming a first zone plate, and making at least a second exposure of said photosensitive media simultaneously to mutually coherent third and fourth wave fronts of light having third and fourth centers of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media, respectively, thereby forming a second zone plate superimposed over the first zone plate, the positions of said first and third centers of curvature being spaced a sufficient distance from each other so that a point of said object field coincident with said first center of curvature is imaged only by the first zone plate and a point of said object field coincident with said third center of curvature is imaged only by the second zone plate.

Claim 4

A method of constructing a holographic lens capable of imaging a wide object field with a low level of aberration, comprising the steps of: exposing a three-dimensional photosensitive media simultaneously to a first wave front of coherent light having a first center of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media and a second wave front of coherent light having a second center of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media, said first and second wave fronts being mutually coherent, thereby forming a first zone plate, and making at least a second exposure of said photosensitive media simultaneously to mutually coherent third and fourth wave fronts of light having third and fourth centers of curvature located relative to said photosensitive media, respectively, thereby forming a second zone plate superimposed over the first zone plate, the positions of said first and third centers of curvature being spaced a sufficient distance from each other so that a point of said object field coincident with said first center of curvature is imaged only by the first zone plate and a point of said object field coincident with said third center of curvature is imaged only by the second zone plate.

Claim 8

A method of imaging a wide object field with a low aberration level by using a holographic lens, comprising the steps of: intersecting two beams of mutually coherent electromagnetic radiation without pictorial information at a predetermined finite angle therebetween, placing a three-dimensional detector media in said beams, changing the relative rotational positions between said detector and said beams an incremental amount between said detector and said bEams an incremental amount between successive exposures to said radiation, thereby to record on said detector a plurality of interference patterns between said beams in the form of a holographic lens, and placing the lens relative to the object field to produce an image thereof.

Claim 9

A method of imaging a wide object field with a low aberration level by using a holographic lens, comprising the steps of: intersecting two beams of mutually coherent electromagnetic radiation without pictorial information at a predetermined finite angle therebetween, placing a three-dimensional detector media in said beams, changing the relative rotational positions between said detector and said beams an incremental amount between said detector and said bEams an incremental amount between successive exposures to said radiation, thereby to record on said detector a plurality of interference patterns between said beams in the form of a holographic lens, and placing the lens relative to the object field to produce an image thereof.

Claim 10

A method of imaging an object field, comprising the steps of: constructing a plurality of Fresnel zone plates on a common area of a thick photosensitive system by sequentially exposing said system to the intersection of a pair of mutually coherent electromagnetic radiation beams having particular angles with respect to said system and particular wave front curvatures of said beams for each exposure, thereby to construct an individual zone plate as a result of each exposure, said angles of intersection and said wave front curvatures being related between exposures for a given thickness of said photosensitive system so that each of said zone plates is capable of imaging with substantial exclusivity a single incremental volume of said object field different from the incremental volumes imaged by any others of the plurality of zone plates, whereby each of said volumes may be made small enough to be imaged by its associated zone plate without significant aberration, illuminating said object field with electromagnetic radiation, and positioning said photosensitive system relative to the object field so that each zone plate constructed on said system images its associated incremental volume of the object field to form a composite image of the object.

Claim 11

A method of imaging an object field, comprising the steps of: constructing a plurality of Fresnel zone plates on a common area of a thick photosensitive system by sequentially exposing said system to the intersection of a pair of mutually coherent electromagnetic radiation beams having particular angles with respect to said system and particular wave front curvatures of said beams for each exposure, thereby to construct an individual zone plate as a result of each exposure, said angles of intersection and said wave front curvatures being related between exposures for a given thickness of said photosensitive system so that each of said zone plates is capable of imaging with substantial exclusivity a single incremental volume of said object field different from the incremental volumes imaged by any others of the plurality of zone plates, whereby each of said volumes may be made small enough to be imaged by its associated zone plate without significant aberration, illuminating said object field with electromagnetic radiation, and positioning said photosensitive system relative to the object field so that each zone plate constructed on said system images its associated incremental volume of the object field to form a composite image of the object.