Abstract

In answer to the questions raised by Ferrari and Garbusi [Opt. Lett. 29, 1257 (2004)] we indicate that, even if the intensities of the object and reference waves can be measured, the phase-shifting procedure is still necessary for correct reconstruction of the object wave field. We also show that the statistical approximation used in our previous Letter [Opt. Lett. 28, 1808 (2003)], $〈\left|sin {\phi }_o\left(x,y\right)\right|〉=2/\pi$, where ${\phi }_o\left(x,y\right)$ is the phase of a diffraction field and $〈 〉$ means average over the whole interferogram frame, is reasonable for most objects, including both smooth and diffusing surfaces, and that the method we proposed for phase-shift extraction is correct.

© 2004 Optical Society of America