Abstract

A lightwave from a phase object has only phase variations and is not directly visible to intensity detectors. Typically the phase is encoded in an interference pattern which is detected and decoded to reveal the phase. However, interferometers are highly sensitive to vibrations making them unattractive in industrial or robotic applications. DeVelis and Reynolds¹ proposed and Sprague and Thompson² reported implementation of a noninterferometric (and hence relatively vibration insensitive) system to image the phase object. That system was entirely optical and involved a nonrealtime film recording and development together with its possible nonlinear effects. The system proposed, although conceptually similar, is electrooptic and produces a set of linear scans which map the 2-D phase object in near real time.

© 1988 Optical Society of America