It has been shown that the process of coded imaging of incoherently illuminated extended objects by self-imaging structures (SIS) naturally leads to the formation of Lau-type fringes at finite conjugates. The object grating and the grating representing the SIS need not be of the same period. The generalised Lau fringes are obtained under a conjugate relation characteristic of the SIS imaging and a general matching condition involving the periods and frequencies of the two periodic structures. The classical Lau fringes and the so-called finite conjugate classical Lau fringes are formed under special imaging conditions. Useful applications have been mentioned. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.