Ultrafast diffraction algorithms for light-in-flight holography

Abstract

Digital light-in-flight (LIF) holography is an ultrafast imaging technique capable of single-shot simultaneous 3D and femtosecond time resolution acquisitions of light pulse propagation. However, the numerical diffraction algorithms used to model light on femtosecond timescales are currently limited in scope, accuracy, and efficiency. We derive an analytical model capable of modeling LIF hologram formation for various optical setup configurations, able to model 3D objects and precisely account for the limited temporal coherence of the signal. We design an efficient algorithmic implementation and validate the system in numerical simulations and with an experimental LIF holographic recording setup. We report ultrafast numerical diffraction over 10,000 times faster than the reference technique, with higher accuracy and capable of modeling 3D samples, thereby broadening its application domain. (c) 2024 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement