High-fidelity full-color self-interference incoherent digital holography via quarter-wave geometric phase optics

We present a compact self-interference incoherent digital holography (SIDH) system that incorporates a quarter-waveplate (QWP)-based geometric phase (GP) lens to achieve high-fidelity, full-color holographic imaging under broadband incoherent illumination. Traditional SIDH systems that utilize half-waveplate (HWP)-based GP lenses are hindered by unavoidable triple-wavefront polarization interference, stemming from chromatic dispersion in phase retardation. This interference introduces color-dependent artifacts in the reconstructed images. In contrast, our QWP-based design inherently suppresses such interference by using the non-diffracted beam as the reference, enabling stable dual-wavefront modulation. This approach produces phase-encoded polarization interference patterns that remain spectrally consistent across the red, green, and blue (RGB) channels. Experimental results demonstrate substantial noise suppression and significantly improved full-color image fidelity, supported by channel-specific noise analysis and structural similarity metrics. The system also preserves a simplified optical configuration without active polarization control, allowing for compact integration and cost-effective fabrication. These advantages position the proposed QWP-GP SIDH architecture as a promising solution for portable, real-time digital holographic 3D imaging, with scalable potential in applications such as augmented reality, optical diagnostics, and spectral holography.