Abstract

Personal computers and peripherals have become very powerful and sophisticated. A CGH can now be readily made on a personal computer system. Our equipment consists of an IBM-PC, a Western Graphtec MP 1000-01 x-y plotter, and an IBM dot matrix printer. The serial port for asynchronous communication is used to transfer the data to the plotter. The parallel port is used for the printer for data or program printing. The MP 1000-01 plotter is very suitable for plotting holograms because it has a large plotting area (36 × 27 cm), adequate resolution, and best of all it has a built-in firmware spline routing for smooth curve plotting using only a few points. We have also added a switch (and an optional rom) so that the plotter can be changed from the MP-1000 to the popular HP-7475A mode. Because of the limited accuracy (and the speed, a minor factor), we have used a series expansion on the mathematical expressions to obtain the necessary precision. We have made holograms of two spherical waves. The quality of the plotting is comparable with that obtained from large computer systems. We also investigated ways to equalize the dark and white spacings so that the reconstruction efficiency will be more uniform across the hologram. This may also increase the reconstruction efficiency for a phase hologram. Experimental results and related technical problems are discussed.

© 1985 Optical Society of America