Real-time Fringe Research Articles

Achromatic design of a photonic tricoupler and phase shifter for broadband nulling interferometry

Nulling interferometry is one of the most promising technologies for imaging exoplanets within stellar habitable zones. The use of photonics for carrying out nulling interferometry enables the contrast and separation required for exoplanet detection. So far, two key issues limiting current-generation photonic nullers have been identified: phase variations and chromaticity within the beam combiner. The use of tricouplers addresses both limitations, delivering a broadband, achromatic null together with phase measurements for fringe tracking. Here, we present a derivation of the transfer matrix of the tricoupler, including its chromatic behaviour, and our 3D design of a fully symmetric tricoupler, built upon a previous design proposed for the GLINT instrument. It enables a broadband null with symmetric, baseline-phase-dependent splitting into a pair of bright channels when inputs are in anti-phase. Within some design trade space, either the science signal or the fringe tracking ability can be prioritised. We also present a tapered-waveguide $180^\circ$-phase shifter with a phase variation of $0.6^\circ$ in the $1.4-1.7~\mu$m band, producing a near-achromatic differential phase between beams{ for optimal operation of the tricoupler nulling stage}. Both devices can be integrated to deliver a deep, broadband null together with a real-time fringe phase metrology signal.

High-efficiency 3D reconstruction with a uniaxial MEMS-based fringe projection profilometry.

Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) scanning is increasingly popular in 3D surface measurement with the merits of the compact structure and high frame-rate. In this paper, we achieve real-time fringe structured 3D reconstruction by using a uniaxial MEMS-based projector. To overcome the limitations on uniaxial MEMS-based projector of lensless structure and unidirectional fringe projection, a novel isophase plane model is proposed, in which the laser line from MEMS-based projector is regarded as an isophase plane. Our model directly establishes the mapping relationship between phase and spatial 3D coordinates through the intersection point of camera back-projection light ray and isophase plane. Furthermore, a flexible calibration strategy to obtain 3D mapping coefficients is introduced with a specially designed planar target. Experiments demonstrated that our method can achieve high-accuracy and real-time 3D reconstruction.

Real-time measurement method for the skin temperature of the human arm via large lateral shearing interferometry.

This paper presents a real-time measurement method for the skin temperature of the human arm. In this method, the air temperature close to the arm skin is measured via large lateral shearing interferometry, thus avoiding the possible influences of the different physical characteristics of different people, while maintaining the advantages of optical measurement, including its noncontact, noninvasive, and rapid features. The method captures the real-time fringe patterns generated using a parallel-sided plate when a collimated laser light beam transfers through the air surrounding the arm to be measured. Additionally, the phase difference distribution caused by the temperature difference is calculated in combination with the background fringe patterns. The phase difference in the light close to the arm skin is then estimated via a linear fitting method. Accordingly, based on the size parameters of the arm cross section and the ambient temperature monitored in real time, the air temperature close to the arm skin, which is considered equal to the arm skin temperature, is determined while considering the heat conduction effect. Experimental measurements of the temperature of human arm skin were conducted using the proposed method, and the axillary temperatures of the same person before and after the experiments were also measured using an electronic thermometer and a mercury thermometer. Good agreements were found, verifying the reliability of the proposed method. Moreover, based on this method, the possibility for the construction of a real-time body temperature measurement system is also discussed.

High-speed real-time 3D shape measurement based on adaptive depth constraint.

Stereo phase unwrapping (SPU) has been increasingly applied to high-speed real-time fringe projection profilometry (FPP) because it can retrieve the absolute phase or matching points in a stereo FPP system without projecting or acquiring additional fringe patterns. Based on a pre-defined measurement volume, artificial maximum/minimum phase maps can be created solely using geometric constraints of the FPP system, permitting phase unwrapping on a pixel-by-pixel basis. However, when high-frequency fringes are used, the phase ambiguities will increase which makes SPU unreliable. Several auxiliary techniques have been proposed to enhance the robustness of SPU, but their flexibility still needs to be improved. In this paper, we proposed an adaptive depth constraint (ADC) approach for high-speed real-time 3D shape measurement, where the measurement depth volume for geometric constraints is adaptively updated according to the current reconstructed geometry. By utilizing the spatio-temporal correlation of moving objects under measurement, a customized and tighter depth constraint can be defined, which helps enhance the robustness of SPU over a large measurement volume. Besides, two complementary techniques, including simplified left-right consistency check and feedback mechanism based on valid area, are introduced to further increase the robustness and flexibility of the ADC. Experimental results demonstrate the success of our proposed SPU approach in recovering absolute 3D geometries of both simple and complicated objects with only three phase-shifted fringe images.

Implement of Digital Moire technique on DSP for alignment of partial compensation interferometer

Digital Moiré technique is adopted in partial compensation interferometer (PCI) for high-precision testing of figure error of the aspheric surfaces. The figure error of the measured aspheric is obtained by a series of calculation with the real interferogram and ideal interferograms generated by computer. The dense interference fringes at the exit pupil make it difficult to align the PCI. On the contrary, digital Moire fringes composed from real and ideal interferograms are sparse and corresponding to the figure error of the measured aspheric, making it easier to align the PCI. Generally, digital Moire technique is processed on the computer, resulting in slow processing speed and difficult display in real time. Digital Signal Processor (DSP) can be used to implement digital Moire technique and display digital Moire fringes in real time with its powerful processing capacity. In this paper, digital Moire technique is implemented on the TMS320C6455 DSP. The hardware system consists of a DSP module, a CCD camera and a monitor. Finally we experimentally obtain the digital Moire image, and further analyze how to align the PCI theoretically.

Speckle Interferometry Analysis of Full-bending Behavior of GFRP Pultruded Material

The use of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer materials (GFRP) has increased in the last years even among civil structural engineering due to their high specific strength, lightweight and excellent corrosion resistance. With application of the pultrusion method, the manufacture of large-scale profiles with various cross-section forms became potentially possible with relatively low costs. Usually two different technological approaches are available to realize the element: in the first one a mat-roving-mat sequence is adopted, in the second one only roving is present. Continuous filament mat (CFM, fibers distributed randomly in all directions) is often used to build up laminate thickness quickly, as well as to enhance transversal strength and stiffness. Besides, the intrinsic particular features of GFRP materials require the application of new techniques of mechanical analysis to define a correct material model. Many papers study the mechanical behavior of GFRP structural elements at a macroscopic scale even in particular environmental conditions. From the other hand full-field contactless techniques (e.g. digital image correlation, thermal stress analysis, speckle interferometry) are effective tools to correctly model complex mechanical behavior and to define the consequent parameters. Among these techniques, Electronic Speckle-Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) has been asserted as very effective due to the technological improvements of the laser sources. One of the significant advantages of ESPI is to produce real-time fringe patterns on objects with optically rough surfaces, with a displacement sensitivity of the order of the light wavelength. Aim of the paper is to apply ESPI handled by phase-stepping technique to the experimental study of GFRP materials in the case of mat-roving-mat sequence.

High-speed real-time 3-D coordinates measurement based on fringe projection profilometry considering camera lens distortion

Optical three-dimensional (3-D) profilometry is gaining increasing attention for its simplicity, flexibility, high accuracy, and non-contact nature. Recent advances in imaging sensors and digital projection technology further its progress in high-speed, real-time applications, enabling 3-D shapes reconstruction of moving objects and dynamic scenes. However, the camera lens is never perfect and the lens distortion does influence the accuracy of the measurement result, which is often overlooked in the existing real-time 3-D shape measurement systems. To this end, here we present a novel high-speed real-time 3-D coordinates measuring technique based on fringe projection with the consideration of the camera lens distortion. A pixel mapping relation between a distorted image and a corrected one is pre-determined and stored in computer memory for real-time fringe correction. The out-of-plane height is obtained firstly and the acquisition for the two corresponding in-plane coordinates follows on the basis of the solved height. Besides, a method of lookup table (LUT) is introduced as well for fast data processing. Our experimental results reveal that the measurement error of the in-plane coordinates has been reduced by one order of magnitude and the accuracy of the out-plane coordinate been tripled after the distortions being eliminated. Moreover, owing to the generated LUTs, a 3-D reconstruction speed of 92.34 frames per second can be achieved.

Measurement of the Derivatives of Surface Displacements by Using a DSSI Method

Shearography is a whole-field optical technique used to measure the surface displacement derivatives. The digital shearing speckle interferometer (DSSI) allows the acquisition and observation of fringes in real time without having to undergo the photographic wet-process and the filtering procedure. In this paper, the principles of DSSI are introduced. In this method, the undeformed speckle image is firstly digitized and stored into the computer through a CCD camera. The subsequent frames of the deformed object are then subtracted continuously from the stored reference frame, thus a fringe pattern is formed. By counting the fringe order, the displacement derivatives at any point on the surface of the object can be determined. A case study using DSSI method to measure the derivatives of surface displacements is presented.

Influence of the volume speckle on fiber specklegram sensors based on four-wave mixing in photorefractive materials

In this work, the dependence on the speckle size in the performance of a micro displacement sensor based on fiber specklegrams stored in a photorefractive BSO (Bi 12SiO 20) crystal is experimentally demonstrated. In our experimental setup, a plastic optical fiber (POF) was used to generate a subjective speckle pattern which was recorded in the crystal by using a four-wave mixing arrangement in transmission geometry. The speckle size was controlled by modifying the diameter of a pupil aperture adjacent to a lens producing the image of the speckle. The signal speckle beam was mixed into the crystal with two counter propagating pump beams to generate a fourth beam which is proportional to the conjugate of the original speckle beam. Real time fringe patterns were obtained at the output of the system by producing micro displacements of the fiber output end. Increases of the phase conjugation reflectivity and the visibility of the fringe patterns were appreciated when the speckle length was increased by decreasing the pupil aperture diameter. This behavior allowed recovering the autocorrelation functions of fringe patterns associated to micro displacements that initially led to decorrelation, and therefore, to improve the dynamic range of the metrological system. Until the best of our knowledge this is the first report about the influence of the speckle size on fiber specklegrams sensors recorded on photorefractive materials by four-wave mixing.

Precise interferometric length measurement using real-time fringe fitting

We created a simple device for the measurement of nanoscale displacements consisting in a Twyman–Green interferometer with one mirror having a slight offset in the horizontal plane with respect to the direction perpendicular to the incoming beam and one mobile mirror, a CCD array camera that captures frames of fringes (interferograms) generated by the interferometer and a software that acquires the interferograms captured by the camera and fits the fringes in order to determine the initial spatial phase of the series of fringes and, consequently, to monitor the movement of the mobile arm of the interferometer. Because the interferograms were acquired and analyzed sequentially, the algorithm could be parallelized easily on a multiprocessor/multicore platform. The device can work in real-time in which case the maximum speed of the mobile arm of the interferometer for which we can obtain unambiguous results is 30 λ/8/s, which is, assuming a He–Ne laser as the light source, almost 2.5 μm/s. In real-time conditions, the precision and accuracy of the measurement are low. In stationary conditions, however, the precision was determined to be below 1 nm.

Estimation of scan-gap limits on phase delay connections in Delta VLBI observations based on the phase structure function at a short time period

Abstract The maximum scan-gap length which connects phase delays from scan to scan over a gap is an important issue in Delta Very Long Baseline Interferometry (D-VLBI), and it is affected by delay fluctuations caused by the wet troposphere. It has recently become possible to obtain near real-time fringe phases by using an e-VLBI technique that realizes real-time VLBI by connecting stations through high-speed Internet. Such real-time VLBI raises the possibility of dynamic D-VLBI scheduling, which changes scan and gap length dynamically according to the weather condition of the date. We have investigated this possibility by using phase structure functions obtained from continuous VLBI observations at S- and X-bands for 1–2 h at the Kashima, Gifu, and Koganei stations (not real-time ones). Five VLBI sessions were conducted during this study between March and July 2006 under different weather conditions. At first a simple method was developed to evaluate phase connectivity from a phase structure function. A model was also proposed to estimate a phase-structure function at longer time periods from a short time period. Finally, an available gap length was estimated using the model. Our results show that it is possible to estimate an available scan gap length by using a structure function at a time period of 10 s. This suggests that it is possible to control scan length and gap length dynamically in order to achieve the best performance of D-VLBI observations.

Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry techniques for non-destructive evaluation: a review

Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) is a fast developing whole field optical technique widely used for measuring displacement components, their derivatives, surface roughness, shape and slope contours of surfaces etc. This non-contact and highly sensitive technique has developed into a powerful on line inspection tool for non-destructive evaluation. The salient feature of ESPI is its capability to display the correlation fringes in real time on a TV monitor without the need of photographic processing or optical filtering. From the very inception of its discovery in 1970s a number of optical configurations have been developed for accurate measurements and better optimisation of results in engineering and non-engineering metrology. This paper reviews the main developments in the field of Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry that have been published over the past 20-25 years. The paper is illustrated with different optical configurations and their applications such as displacement and slope measurements with extensive references. The ESPI experimental set-up and the results obtained by the authors for its engineering applications such as non-destructive evaluation of low modulus materials used for space vehicle components are presented.

Resolving quadrature fringes in real time.

In many interferometers, two fringe signals can be generated in quadrature. The relative phase of the two fringe signals depends on whether the optical path length is increasing or decreasing. A system is developed in which two quadrature fringe signals are digitized and analyzed in real time with a digital signal processor to yield a linear, high-resolution, wide-dynamic-range displacement transducer. The resolution in a simple Michelson interferometer with inexpensive components is 5 x 10(-13) m Hz(-1/2) at 2 Hz.

Real-time fringe correction algorithm for the JET interferometer

On the JET facility, the line-integrated electron density is measured by a multichannel far-infrared (FIR) interferometer. The basic source of radiation is a deuterium cyanide laser (λ=195 μm) measuring the density along four vertical and four nearly horizontal (lateral) channels. During high-density discharges the system suffers from fringe jumps that are manually partially corrected by an off-line program. This intermittent phenomenon prevents reliable usage of the measured line-integrated density in a real-time feedback controller. To solve this problem we have developed a method to correct the fringe jumps on the lateral channels in real time. The method uses the additional methyl alcohol laser (λ=118.8 μm) interferometer present on the lateral channels to compensate the vibrations. The method has been successfully tested with off-line test data, before implementation on a VERSA Module Eurocard system for the real-time control of the JET discharges.

The use of automated projection interferometry in monitoring aerofoil buckling

Projection moire is frequently used to examine the out-of-plane displacement of thin-walled shells during buckling. One way of implementing this technique is to use double exposure photography to superimpose the initial and deformed images of a grating projected onto the surface of the specimen. This generates a pattern of fringes representative of points of equal displacement, thus presenting a snapshot of the full-field buckling behavior. This paper outlines a technique to extend this method to provide a computer generated real-time fringe pattern throughout the whole buckling and post-buckling process. This is achieved by using a CCD camera and specially developed processing software to continuously superimpose the initial image of the grating (i.e., the first frame of the captured video) onto subsequent frames in which this grating is deformed due to the displacement. This method produces series of fringes in digital format, which are ideal for further processing.

Real-time speckle interferometry fringe formation with an adaptive phase mask.

We describe what we believe is a novel speckle-pattern interferometry method of applying a spatial light modulator (SLM) as an adaptive phase mask to obtain real-time fringes of a deformed object without using conventional correlation methods of electronic subtraction or addition. The method is to use a SLM to cancel initial phase in the speckled image before the object is deformed. The fringes from the deformed object can be visualized directly after the initial phase has been canceled. A commercial liquid-crystal television is used as a SLM. The performance of using this SLM in an out-of-plane speckle interferometer is demonstrated.

Measurement of Young's modulus of cementitious materials using an electro-optic holographic technique

The electro-optic holographic technique has already been used to determine Young's dynamic modulus in homogeneous materials based on the resonance frequency of the analysed samples. This paper shows a modification of the determination method of this frequency that speeds up this process thus obtaining Young's modulus. Based on the visualisation of real time fringes drawn by exciting the rods at the 1000–10,000 Hz range, the proposed method allows us to determine their resonance frequencies. This procedure has been used in the analysis of non-homogeneous materials such as mortar and concrete. The results obtained by this method show good correlation with those determined by the conventional compression method established by Una Norma Española (UNE) regulations, but with a smaller variability as far as measurements are concerned. The variation coefficient is less than 1% with the optical method as opposed to 3% with the compression technique.

Real-time fringe pattern demodulation with a second-order digital phase-locked loop

The use of a second-order digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) to demodulate fringe patterns is presented. The second-order DPLL has better tracking ability and more noise immunity than the first-order loop. Consequently, the second-order DPLL is capable of demodulating a wider range of fringe patterns than the first-order DPLL. A basic analysis of the first- and the second-order loops is given, and a performance comparison between the first- and the second-order DPLL's in analyzing fringe patterns is presented. The implementation of the second-order loop in real time on a commercial parallel image processing system is described. Fringe patterns are grabbed and processed, and the resultant phase maps are displayed concurrently.

Development of a phase-displacement equation for panoramic interferometry

We developed the parametric equations that are needed to quantify the modulations in the sensitivity vector that occur when the phase-displacement equation is applied to make panoramic interferometric measurements. The measurement system relies on two collinear panoramic annular lenses, one to illuminate and the other to image their surroundings. When a coherent light source is used and a reference beam is added, interference occurs over the region of interest defined by the illuminating and viewing lenses. A holographic system is used to demonstrate the approach and quantify the analysis. We obtained interference fringes in real time by comparing holograms recorded before and after a section of cylindrical pipe is displaced relative to the measurement system. The annular images and the holographic fringes are acquired and stored digitally in a computer system, and image transformation algorithms are applied to remove optical distortions in the holographic patterns. Excellent agreement is obtained when the fringe loci are compared with those predicted on the basis of theory.

Matched data storage in ESPI by combination of spatial phase shifting with temporal phase unwrapping

We combine the spatial phase-shifting technique with the real-time fringe counting capability of temporal phase unwrapping to provide simple solutions for some practical tasks in ESPI. First, we develop a method for automatically matched data storage intervals and apply this technique to a long-term observation of a biological object with strongly varying deformation rate. Second, we easily obtain on-line displacement and deformation data during the observation of a complexly structured discontinuous object.