Recording of phase-amplitude images

High-fidelity, low-noise recordings of phase-and-amplitude objects are produced, by means of an interferometer composed of three diffraction gratings and an imaging system, using spatially and spectrally noncoherent light. The interferometer can: (1) form numerous fine, high-contrast fringes with light from a spatially and spectrally broad source; (2) be integrated with an imaging system without degradation of the fringes or interferometer-induced aberrations in the image (no limit on fringe spatial frequency is imposed by the modulation transfer function); and (3) totally exclude grating noise from the recorded image, since none of the gratings are imaged.