Noninterferometric fabrication of computer-generated phase holograms on silver halide photographic emulsion

The potential of silver halide emulsion as a low-cost material for noninterferometric recording of computer-generated phase holograms is evaluated by contact-printing binary-amplitude masks on this material. This process is found to result in a nonbinary surface-relief profile with appreciable overshoot in the vicinity of the intended phase jumps. Interestingly, the refractive-index modulation profile compensates for this effect, resulting in a nearly binary phase delay profile. Residual absorption in the emulsion and pattern transfer errors, most noticeable within small features, are found to limit the array size that can be achieved with a given period. The feasibility of the application of silver halide emulsion in recording holograms with a continuous profile is discussed.