Introduction to Holography, 2nd Edition

3 Introducing Holography

DOI: 10.1201/9781003155416-5

3.1 Introduction: Difference between Two Spatial Frequencies

To get started, we consider holography in the simplest possible way and will adopt a more general approach in the chapter to follow.

Any two waves can interfere to produce a spatial frequency which is the difference between the spatial frequencies of the waves. We saw this in Section 2.7 where we discussed the Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Referring to Figure 3.1, suppose the wave vectors or normals to two interfering plane wavefronts are at angles ψ₁ and ψ₂ to the z axis and at 90° to the x axis (not shown).

Figure 3.1 Interference ...