Accuracy of image-plane holographic tomography with filtered backprojection: random and systematic errors

This paper explores the concept of image-plane holographic tomography applied to the measurements of laser-induced thermal gradients in an aqueous solution of a photosensitizer with respect to the reconstruction accuracy of three-dimensional variations of the refractive index. It uses the least-squares estimation algorithm to reconstruct refractive index variations in each holographic projection. Along with the bitelecentric optical system, transferring focused projection to the sensor plane, it facilitates the elimination of diffraction artifacts and noise suppression. This work estimates the influence of typical random and systematic errors in experiments and concludes that random errors such as accidental measurement errors or noise presence can be significantly suppressed by increasing the number of recorded digital holograms. On the contrary, even comparatively small systematic errors such as a displacement of the rotation axis projection in the course of a reconstruction procedure can significantly distort the results. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America