Abstract
A numerical holographic method, which is able to determine the amplitude components of the Jones vector of a wavefront in addition to its phase and amplitude, is presented. Two reference waves, with orthogonal polarisations interfere with the transmitted or reflected object wave to create the hologram that is recorded on a standard CCD camera. Two wavefronts, one for each perpendicular polarisation state, are numerically reconstructed in intensity. Combining the intensity distribution of these two wavefronts permits to determine the amplitude component of the Jones vector of the object wavefront. We show that this method can be used to image the distribution of a part of the polarisation state at the surface of the specimen. Preliminary results obtained with a polariser as specimen indicates that the method can be used to obtain quantitative data about the polarisation state.