Patent ID: 7289253

Claim:
An apparatus to shearlessly record a hologram comprising: an illumination source configured to produce a first beam of light; a beamsplitter configured to split the first beam into a reference beam and an object illumination beam; a phase-shaping optical element configured to impart a phase shift to the reference beam and to return the phase-shifted reference beam to the beamsplitter substantially coaxially with the non-phase-shifted reference beam; wherein the beamsplitter is configured to receive the phase-shifted reference beam and a portion of the object illumination beam which is reflected from an object and to substantially coaxially combine the phase-shifted reference beam and the reflected portion of the object illumination beam; a focusing lens configured to receive the combined phase-shifted reference beam and reflected object illumination beam and to focus the combined phase-shifted reference beam and reflected object illumination beam at a focal plane; and a digital recorder positioned at the focal plane and configured to record a spatially heterodyne hologram formed by the focused phase-shifted reference beam and reflected object illumination beam.