a volume holographic imaging system , apparatus , and / or method enables the projection of a two - dimensional slice of a four - dimensional probing object . a 4d probing source object is illuminated to emit or scatter an optical field . a holographic element having one or more recorded holograms receives and diffracts the optical field into a diffracted plane beam having spectral information . a 4 - f telecentric relay system includes a pupil filter on the relayed conjugate plane of the volume hologram and images the pupil of the volume hologram onto the front focal plane of the collector lens . a collector lens focuses the diffracted plane beam to a 2d slice of the 4d probing source object . the focused 2d slice is projected onto a 2d imaging plane . the holographic element may have multiple multiplexed holograms that are arranged to diffract light from the corresponding slice of the 4d probing source object .