Rapid phase extraction method based on the difference image between interferograms with unknown phase-shifting amount

Abstract

In phase-shifting interferometry, based on the difference image between interferograms with unknown phase-shifting amount, a rapid phase extraction method is proposed. In this method, first, by means of the simple subtraction operation between interferograms captured in one phase-shifting period, a sequence of difference images are generated easily; second, to decrease the random phase-shifting errors induced during the phase-shifting procedure, the summation operation is performed for these difference images; third, based on one time phase recovery operation and one time phase-unwrapping operation, the measured phase with high precision can be obtained rapidly. Moreover, in the proposed method, by means of a simple phase summation operation for all pixel-phases in one interferogram, the corresponding phase-shifting amount of interferogram can be determined conveniently.