ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the basics of scalar waves and holography. It introduces types of holograms often used in computer holography. Electric and magnetic fields are transverse waves, and propagate in a direction perpendicular to the vibration direction. Wave propagation in two- and three-dimensional space can be easily derived from the one-dimensional wave propagation. When the distance between the hologram and the object is very far, object light can be regarded as plane waves and be described by Fraunhofer diffraction. A hologram recorded with an object placed near the hologram is called an image hologram. The intensity of light can be detected using photographic films, photodiodes, and imaging sensors such as charge coupled device cameras. Light propagation should be addressed as vector waves based on Maxwell’s equations; however, the treatment of vector waves is complicated and requires much computation time and memory.
