Fixation-free rehalogenating bleaching is an interesting for the production of phase holograms. The shrinkage of the emulsion is reduced in comparison with other bleaching methods (reversal bleaching or rehalogenating bleaching with ® xation). In this paper we present experimental results for ® xation-free rehalogenating bleached holograms derived from the novel BB-640, a red-sensitive ultra-® ne grain emulsion from Holographic Recording Technologies. The in¯uence of the potassium bromide concentration in the bleach solution on the ® nal quality of the holograms is also studied. The concentrations of the diå erent components of the bleach solution are adjusted to obtain the highest values of diå raction eae ciency. We show that really high diå raction eae ciencies can be obtained, as high as 84%, when ® xation-free rehalogenating bleached holograms are recorded on BB-640 plates.