Binary synthetic holograms.

The positions and width of the fringes in a binary synthetic hologram are determined by the points at (x,y) that satisfy -q/2 </= x/T + Phi (x,y)/2pi + n </= q/2, where Phi(x,y) is the phase variation of the wavefront, T is the grating period, n is an integer, and q is a constant determining the fringe width. A method for finding an exact solution to this inequality is presented. The feasibility of the procedure has been tested by making binary synthetic holograms. Experimental results are presented, and extensions of the method are discussed.