Digital holography at millimetre wavelengths

Abstract In this paper, we describe a method for wavefront reconstruction at millimetre wavelengths using off-axis holography, a frequently used image recording technique at visible wavelengths first demonstrated in the 1960’s. Millimetre radiation has been highlighted recently in the imaging of non-conducting materials and objects, which often show significant transparency at these long wavelengths, even though opaque at visible and infrared wavelengths. Holography provides a method for recording a lens-less image of an object thus reducing loss of spatial frequency information, which is important for obtaining maximum resolution at long wavelengths. An experimental arrangement based on a simple form of Fresnel off-axis holography is described, with the object illumination and reference beams derived using two radiating horn antennas fed by a single coherent source (a Gunn diode oscillator operating at 100 GHz – wavelength 3 mm) via a 3 dB cross-guide coupler. The process is discussed in the context of imaging and in the validation of millimetre wave radiation sources (horns). We show that the entire fields from these and other components can be analysed using computational optics with data derived from a single measurement obtained using inexpensive equipment.