Three-dimensional holograms in polarization-sensitive media

The three-dimensional polarization hologram which is formed by adding mutually orthogonal circularly polarized reference and object waves is discussed. Photoanisotropic materials are used for polarization hologram recording. The theoretical expression for an image formed by a polarization hologram has been obtained. For the recording medium with the given characteristics, the thickness with which all the energy of the reconstruction beam is pumped into a reconstructed image has been determined. It is noticed that the three-dimensional polarization hologram allows image reconstruction to be accomplished with an extremely high diffraction efficiency.