Optical and electronic design of a calibrated multichannel electronic interferometer for quantitative flow visualization

Abstract

Calibrated multichannel electronic interferometry is an electro-optic technique for performing phase shifting of transient phenomena. The design of an improved system for calibrated multichannel electronic interferometry is discussed. This includes a computational method for alignment of three phase-shifted interferograms and determination of the pixel correspondence. During calibration the phase, modulation, and bias of the optical system are determined. These data are stored electronically and used to compensate for errors associated with the path differences in the interferometer, the separation of the phase-shifted interferograms, and the measurement of the phase shift.