Image contrast and resolution in holographic multiplexing by spatial division

An analysis of the effects of two different techniques of spatial-division multiplexing on the quality of the image reconstructed by the hologram of a diffusing object is presented, along with some experimental results obtained with a coherent optical system under diffraction-limited conditions. These show that the use of random masks for spatial division in the cases studied gives much poorer resolution than simple sub-division of the hologram area, because of the serious loss of image contrast with a random mask.