TEMPORAL PHASE UNWRAPPING AND ITS APPLICATION IN SHEAROGRAPHY SYSTEMS

Temporal phase unwrapping is applied to a two-camera polarization phas e-stepped system. A simple algorithm for the phase-change calculation is given, together with simulations, to indicate its validity and stre ngth. This method can be applied directly for detection of phase chang es as a function of time. It is proposed to use this method in a shear ography setup. The phase distribution in the shearogram can then be ob tained, without the standard 2 pi ambiguities, by application of the r equired total shear in a number of smaller steps, provided that each s tep is small enough to be free from these 2 pi phase steps. (C) 1998 O ptical Society of America.