Holography with Evanescent Waves

Abstract

Information contained in evanescent wave fields was recorded by holographic techniques. Internal reflection within a highly refractive liquid was used to create evanescent surface waves in the emulsion of immersed high-resolution photographic plates. The holograms have unique properties. When reconstructed by an evanescent wave, two mirror images of the same kind were formed; however, two conjugate images were obtained by reversing the direction of the surface wave. Although the holograms are very thin with fringes confined to the surface of the emulsion, they reconstruct in white light and exhibit frequency-selection properties similar to thick holograms.