The existence of carrier frequency is unavoidable in many phase-shifti
ng techniques. It makes the phase-unwrapping procedure more difficult,
especially when speckle-like noise exists in the wrapped phase map. I
n this paper, it is shown that the carrier frequency is approximately
equal to the average of the first difference of the phase. To remove t
he carrier frequency, we compute the first difference of the phase bef
ore attaining the phase map, subtract the average of the first differe
nce, and integrate to get the phase map without carrier frequency. Com
puter simulation and experimental results show this method as being pr
ofitable for phase unwrapping. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ
ts reserved.