Generalized in-line digital holographic technique based on intensity measurements at two different planes

In-line digital holography based on two-intensity measurements [Zhang et al. Opt. Lett. 29, 1787 (2004)], is modified by introducing a π shifting in the reference phase. Such an improvement avoids the assumption that the object beam must be much weaker than the reference beam in strength and results in a simplified experimental implementation. Computer simulations and optical experiments are carried out to validate the method, which we refer to as position-phase-shifting digital holography.