Single-Shot Reference-Free Holographic Imaging using a Liquid Crystal Geometric Phase Diffuser

It has been recently demonstrated that wavefront information can be directly measured using the speckle-correlation scattering method. The realization of speckle-correlation scattering requires the use of a diffusive layer; however, it poses technical challenges in characterizing the transmission matrix of the diffusive layer or precisely fabricating an engineered random metasurface. Herein, liquid crystal geometric phase diffusers are exploited for single-shot reference-free holographic imaging based on speckle-correlation scattering. It is demonstrated that the use of a commercial geometric phase diffuser provides precise holographic measurements in a simple imaging setup, with no calibration required. This low-cost, simple, and high-resolution wavefront sensing approach inspired by liquid crystal materials may find direct applications in metrology, industrial inspection, and biophotonics.