Cheap gigapixel holographic microscope using an off the shelf scanner

Japanese researchers demonstrated a gigapixel inline digital holographic microscopy using a consumer scanner. The consumer scanner can maximally scan an A4 size (European pagesize) image (297mm × 210mm) with 4800 dpi (≈ 5.29µm), theoretically achieving a resolution of 56,144 × 39,698 ≈ 2.22 gigapixels. The system using a consumer scanner has a simple structure, compared with synthetic aperture digital holography using a camera mounted on a two-dimensional moving stage. In this demonstration, we captured an inline hologram with 23,602 × 18,023 pixels (≈ 0.43 gigapixels). In addition, to accelerate the reconstruction time of the gigapixel hologram and decrease the amount of memory for the reconstruction, we applied the band-limited double-step Fresnel diffraction to the reconstruction.

One challenge they face is processing the huge amount of information that holograms generate. They used a data processing method known as “band-limited double-step Fresnel diffraction” significantly reduces the computational load compared with the traditional technique known as the angular spectrum method.

In this way they reduced the processing time to reconstruct the image on a standard PC from 350 seconds to just 177 seconds.

They need to find a good way to display these holograms. Standard computer monitors with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
4K UHD displays have a resolution of 3840 pixels × 2160 pixels. 8.3 megapixels.
A 50 inch 4K UHD monitors can be had for about $1300.

8K UHD displays have 7680 pixels × 4320 pixels (33.2 megapixels).

Gigapixel displays cost about $50,000

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