Super-resolution Fourier transform method in

phase shifting interferometry

Rajesh Langoju, Abhijit Patil, and Pramod Rastogi
Applied Computing and Mechanics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015-Lausanne,
Switzerland.

Abstract: The paper proposes a super-resolution Fourier transform method

for phase estimation in phase shifting interferometry. Incorporation of a
super-resolution technique before the application of Fourier transform
significantly enhances the resolution capability of the proposed method. The
other salient features of the method lie in its ability to handle multiple
harmonics, PZT miscalibration, and arbitrary phase steps in the optical
configuration. The method does not need addition of any carrier fringes to
separate the spectral contents in the intensity fringes. The proposed concept
thus overcomes the limitations of other methods based on Fourier transform
techniques. The robustness of the proposed method is studied in the
presence of noise.
©2005 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (120.3180) Interferometry, (120.5050) Phase measurement, (999.9999) Frequency
spectrum estimation

References and Links

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based topography and interferometry,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72, 156-160 (1982).
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2894 (2001).
18. C. S. Guo, Z. Y. Rong, J. L. He, H. T. Wang, L. Z. Cai, and Y. R. Wang, “Determination of global phase
shifts between interferograms by use of an energy-minimum algorithm,” Appl. Opt. 42, 6514-6519 (2003).
19. L. R. Watkins, S. M. Tan, and T. H. Barnes, “Determination of interferometer phase distributions by use of
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#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7160
 20. P. Stoica and R. Moses, Introduction to Spectral Analysis (Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1997).
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1. Introduction
One of the major topics of research in interferometry has been the design of efficient
algorithms for accurate measurement of wavefront phase. Two major approaches that have
been followed in phase measurement can broadly be classified as temporal and spatial. In
temporal techniques, three or more data frames are acquired while phase shifts are introduced
in successive data frames [1-15]. The phase is subsequently computed at each pixel by using
the intensity readings to solve for the phase. One of the devices commonly used for shifting
the phase of the interference beams in interferometry is the piezo-actuator transducer (PZT).
Unfortunately, the PZT itself is a source of error and one of the problems encountered during
its use is the device miscalibration [5,8,12]. Other errors occurring due to the use of a PZT can
be attributed to hysteresis, ageing, PZT tilt error, etc. Error in phase measurement can also
crop up due to multiple harmonics; a consequence of detector nonlinearity, multiple
reflections inside the laser cavity or the phase shifter itself. Few algorithms have been
proposed which advocate selection of fixed values of phase steps in order to minimize these
error sources [8,12]. These algorithms however restrict the user from applying arbitrary phase
steps.
The use of spatial techniques such as Fourier and wavelet transforms has also become
popular since the phase information can be retrieved from single data frame [16-18]. The
Fourier transform technique has been widely applied in signal and image processing functions
by transforming the intensity data into the Fourier domain. To apply the Fourier transform to
interferometric signals, a carrier fringe is introduced to separate the first-order signal from
zeroth-order components in the Fourier domain. The phase information is then computed by
processing the first-order signal. However, the Fourier transform technique is basically a
global frequency transformation technique and as such the signal in one position affects the
signal in other positions in spectral analysis. To address this concern, wavelet transform was
introduced which also allows for direct phase demodulation by doing away with the need of
phase unwrapping [19]. However, this technique has met with limited success because of the
need to add carrier fringes in both the horizontal and vertical directions. If the fringes are
added only in the horizontal direction, only one dimensional wavelet transform is possible.
Moreover, the need to introduce an optimization algorithm to minimize the wavelet ridge is
one of the potential bottlenecks in accessing its optimal performance.
Since temporal techniques are known to offer advantage over the spatial techniques in
terms of improved noise immunity, high-spatial-frequency resolution, and insensitivity to
spatial variations in the detector response, these techniques are preferred in phase analysis.
Given the advantages possessed by the temporal techniques, few algorithms have also been
proposed in which the Fourier transform is applied temporally to estimate the global phase
steps. Once the phase steps are estimated between the successive data frames, the least
squares fit technique is applied for the estimation of phase. For instance, in the method
proposed by Goldberg et al [17] for the estimation of global phase steps, the phase of the first-
order maximum of one of the interferograms in the Fourier domain is compared with the first-
order maximum of other interferograms. This method however, is highly dependent on the
distribution of the zeroth- and the first-order spectrum. In such a case, the selection of higher
carrier frequency to separate spectral components would seem to be a solution but its
feasibility is limited by the spectral resolution of the detectors. The method is also sensitive to

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noise occurring during the acquisition of successive data frames. To overcome this problem,
Guo et al [18] suggested an algorithm based on energy-minimum to estimate the global phase
steps between frames. Although this algorithm is less sensitive to noise, it is iterative and
requires an initial guess for minimizing the energy. Moreover, both these concepts assume
that the phase step is uniform over the entire data frame. These methods also require the
addition of carrier fringes.
Hence, there is a need to design a method which does not require the addition of carrier
fringes, handles PZT miscalibration, computes phase step values pixel-wise, and compensates
for non-sinusoidal fringe profile. For this, we propose a super-resolution Fourier transform
method [20]. Conceptually, if the Fourier transform is applied temporally at ( x, y ) pixel for
N data frames, the phase step information can be retrieved, however, the phase step
resolution is limited to 2π / N radians. On the other hand, the proposed algorithm
incorporates salient features of super-resolution technique and Fourier transform method.
Super-resolution techniques based on the formation of covariance matrix from temporal data
set offers the possibility to measure frequencies which are separated by less than 2π / N . In
practical terms we first design a covariance matrix from the intensity fringes recorded at the
( x, y ) pixel for N data frames. The eigenvalue decomposition of this covariance matrix
yields signal and noise subspaces. The Fourier transform is next applied to the noise subspace
so that the phase step values can be estimated. Applying Fourier transform temporally
overcomes the limitation mentioned earlier, compared to when applied spatially. The
efficiency of the proposed method is studied in the presence of noise.
The following section introduces super-resolution Fourier transform method. Section 3
presents analysis of the proposed method and comparison with Discrete Fourier transform
(DFT). Section 4 presents evaluation of the algorithm followed by phase estimation in Section
5.
2. Phase shifting interferometry
The method consists of acquiring data while voltages are applied to the PZT. The recorded
fringe intensity at a point ( x, y ) of the t th frame in presence of white Gaussian noise is given
by
κ κ
∑     ∑ e x p ( − j k ϕ ) (u )
   
t
I (t ) = I d c + a k e x p ( jk ϕ )u t
k + a k
*
k
k =1 k k =1 *
k
+ η (t ) ; f o r t = 0 ,1, ..., N − 1
(1)

where, I dc is the local average value of intensity , ak is the coefficient, j = −1 ,

uk = exp ( jkα ) , superscript ∗ denotes the complex conjugate, η is the white Gaussian noise
with mean zero and variance σ 2 ; and ϕ , α , and κ represent phase distribution, phase step,
and the number of harmonics, respectively. The first step is the computation of covariance for
I (t ) which is given by [21]

2κ
r ( p ) = E ⎡⎣ I (t ) I * (t − p ) ⎤⎦ = ∑A
k =0
k exp (
2 jωk p ) + σ 2δ p ,0 . (2)

where, E [.] is the expectation operator and ωk = 0, ±α ,.., ±κα are the harmonics present in
the intensity modulation, p is the time offset and term Ak2 has been explained in Appendix.
The covariance matrix can thus be written as

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
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 ⎡ r (0) r * (1) . r * (m − 1) ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢ r (1) r (0) . r * (m − 2) ⎥
R I = E ⎡⎣ I (t )I* (t ) ⎤⎦ = ⎢ ⎥
(3)
⎢
. . . . ⎥
⎣ r ( m − 1)
⎢ . . r (0) ⎥
⎦

where, I (t ) = [ I (t − 1),......, I (t − m)] , m is the covariance length, T is the transpose

T

operator, and r * (− p) = r ( p ) . This covariance matrix R I can be written in a compact form as

follows

R I = SPS H + σ 2 I d (4)
Rs Rε

where, H is the conjugate transpose operator and S = ⎡⎣sκ , s −κ , ..., s0 ⎤⎦ . Here, sk is the
m×( 2κ +1)

Vandermonde matrix of the form sk = ⎣⎡1, exp ( jωk ) ,....., exp ( j ( m − 1) ωk ) ⎦⎤ ; R s and R ε are
T

the signal and noise contributions; I d is the m × m identity matrix; and P( 2κ +1) ×( 2κ +1) is a
power matrix which is defined as

⎡ A2 0 . 0 ⎤
0
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 A12 . . ⎥
P = ⎢ ⎥ (5)
⎢ . . . . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 . . A22κ ⎥⎦
⎣

Thus, the eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix R I can be written as

⎡ λ0 … 0 ⎤
R I = [υ ν] ⎢ ⎥
[υ ν]
H
⎢
  
⎥
(6)
⎢0
⎣  λm −1 ⎥⎦
The eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix R I yields a full set of orthonormal eigenvectors
υ,ν and corresponding set of eigenvalues λ0 ≥ λ1 ≥, ...., λm −1 . The eigenvectors
υ = υ0 , υ1 ,..., υ2κ span the signal subspace and the corresponding eigenvalues are such that
λ0 ≥ λ1 ≥ .... ≥ λ2κ > σ . The remaining eigenvectors ν = ν 0 , ν1 ,..., ν m − 2κ − 2 span the noise
2

subspace and their corresponding eigenvalues are λ2κ +1 =,........, = λm −1 ≈ σ 2 . Since the signal
vectors are orthogonal to the noise subspace, the inner product of each of these subspaces is
zero. In addition, since υ is the signal eigenvector, we can write

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
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 R I υ = SPS H υ + σ 2 υ
⎡ λ0 . . . 0 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
⎢
. λ1 . . . ⎥
= υ⎢ . . . . . ⎥ (7)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ . . . . . ⎥
⎢0
⎣ . . . λ2κ ⎥⎦
= υγ +σ 2 υ

where, matrix γ is

⎡λ −σ 2 . . . 0 ⎤
0
⎢ ⎥
⎢ . λ1 − σ 2 . . . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
γ= . . . . . (8)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ . . . . . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ 0 . . . λ2κ − σ 2 ⎥⎦

The eigenvectors υ in Eq. (7) can be expressed as

(
υ = S PS H υγ −1 ≅ SC ) (9)

where C = PSυγ −1 and C ≠ 0 (since rank ( υ ) = rank ( S ) = 2κ + 1 ). Since υH ν = 0 , we have

⎡ sH ⎤
0
⎢ ⎥
⎢ . ⎥
SH ν = ⎢ . ⎥
ν =0
⎢ ⎥
(10)
⎢s H ⎥
⎣ 2κ ⎦

= s kH ν i = 0∀i = ( 0,1, 2,...., m − 2κ − 2 ) and k = ( 0,1, 2,...., 2κ )

2κ
From Eq. (10), we can infer that {sk }k =0 ⊥ R ( ν ) , where R ( ν ) is the span of ν . Thus
2κ
{ωk }k =0 are the unique solutions of S H νν H S = 0 .

The term sH
k ν i in Eq. (10) recalls the definition of the inner product of two complex
sequences s k , ν i which is given by

∑s
m −1
s k , νi = H
k ( n ) νi ( n ) (11)
n =0

Further, from Eq. (10) we know that the signal vectors are orthogonal to the noise vectors
which yields the dot product zero (since sk and ν i are orthogonal). Hence, combining Eqs.
(10) and (11), we obtain
s k , ν i = 0 ∀ i = ( 0,1, 2,..., m − 2κ − 2 ) , k = ( 0,1,....., 2κ ) (12)

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
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Since sk = exp ( jωk ) and from the definition of the inner product in Eq. (12), we get

∑
m −1
sk , ν i = exp ( − jnωk ) ν i ( n )
n=0

= s, ν i (13)
ω =ωk
=0
Equation (13) is nothing but the N point Discrete Fourier Transform of the noise vector ν i
evaluated at ω = ωk . Hence frequencies ωk are the zeros of s, ν i . This observation
motivates us to form a power spectrum function Pi ⎡ exp jω f
⎣ ( )⎤⎦ which is defined as

⎣ (
Pi ⎡ exp jω f )⎤⎦ = 1
2
; ω f = 0, 2π / NOF,..........., 2π (NOF − 1) / NOF (14)
s f , νi

( ) ( )⎤⎦
T
where, s f = ⎡1, exp jω f ,....., exp jmω f and NOF is the number of frequencies. In Eq.
⎣

(14), we generate ω f from [ 0, 2π ) in steps of 2π / NOF , such that, at ω f = ωk , the inner

product in Eq. (14) is zero, which eventually manifests as a peak of infinite amplitude in the
power spectrum. Since the eigenvectors corresponding to noise subspace are not of the same
power (eigenvalues), usually, a weighted averaging is performed for m − (2κ + 1) noise
eigenvectors. Hence Eq. (14) for the power spectrum can be written as [20]

P ⎡ exp jω f
⎣
( )⎤⎦ = m−2κ −2 1
; ω f = 0, 2π / NOF,..........., 2π (NOF − 1) / NOF
∑
1 2
s f , νi
i =0
λ2κ +1+i
(15)
Examination of the prominent peaks in P [ exp ( jω )] gives the estimate of the frequencies
present in the signal which in turn gives the information relative to the phase step value
applied to the PZT. It is important to emphasize that since the signal subspace is orthogonal to
the noise subspace, we generate a set of signal vectors s f for frequencies between [ 0, 2π )
and perform the inner product with all the noise eigenvectors ν i such that the resultant is
zero. The vector ν i is obtained from the eigenvalue decomposition of R I matrix in Eq. (3).
Usually, for a large data sample the noise subspace is larger than the signal subspace and
hence more information can be extracted from the noise subspace.
A point to note here is that in the Fourier transform method, the frequency resolution is
restricted to 2π / N for N data frames. However, the resolution obtained while estimating the
power spectrum using Eq. (15) is limited only by the number of frequencies NOF generated
between the interval [ 0, 2π ) . Hence, in the proposed method the frequency resolution is
2π / NOF for the same number of data frames N . Since, in the proposed method the frequency
resolution is no more dependent on the number of data frames acquired but on the size of
the NOF , the method is referred to as a super-resolution Fourier transform method. Details on
the influence of NOF in estimating the phase step value is presented in Section 4. Next
section presents a brief comparison of the proposed concept with the well known discrete
Fourier transform (DFT) method.

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
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3. Comparison with DFT methods
The time series harmonics analysis is a crucial problem in signal processing. DFT is one of
the methods quite often used to determine the harmonics present in the signal. The DFT for
the interferometric data in Eq. (1) for N data frames is given by

N −1 ⎛ j 2π kt ⎞
Iˆ ( k ) = ∑
t =0
I ( t ) exp ⎜ −
⎝ N ⎠
⎟; k = 0,1, 2,...., N − 1 (16)

The position of the prominent peaks in the amplitude plot of the DFT indicates the
frequencies that are present in the signal. These frequencies are nothing but the phase steps
applied in the subsequent data frames. If the value of N is small and the separation between
the successive phase step values is less than the DFT resolution limit, 2π / N , then these
phase steps cannot be retrieved. If the value of N is large enough, then we can achieve good
accuracy in the estimation of phase step values. Since the measurement is sensitive to random
and systematic error sources, acquiring large number of data frames is not a preferential
choice in phase shifting interferometry. One way by which the resolution in DFT can be
increased is by padding zeros to the intensity signal in Eq. (16). The DFT of the zero padded
signal IˆZP of length ZP is given by

ZP −1 ⎛ j 2π kt ⎞
IˆZP ( k ) = ∑
t =0
I ( t ) exp ⎜ −
⎝ N ⎠
⎟; k = 0,1, 2,..N − 1,..., ZP − 1 (17)

In Eq. (17), I ( t ) is zero for N ≤ t ≤ ZP − 1 . The performance of our proposed method

over DFT methods is tested by applying it to computer generated fringes. The phase step
applied to the PZT is selected as α = 0.5760 radian 33° ( ) and two cases are considered:
κ = 1 , N = 8 ; and κ = 2 , N = 12 .
20 20 20

10 10
0

0 0
dB

dB

-20
dB

-10 -10

-40
-20 -20

-30 -30 -60

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
× π rad/sample × π rad/sample × π rad/sample
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 1. Plots of power spectrum obtained for κ = 1 using a) Fourier transform b) Zero padded
Fourier transform and c) super-resolution Fourier transform for determining the phase step
values α .

Figures 1(a)-(b) show power spectrum obtained at an arbitrary pixel ( x, y ) using the DFT
and zero padded DFT methods, respectively. For zero padded DFT the intensity signal is
padded with 4088 zeros such that the length of the zero padded signal ZP = 4096 . It can be
observed that determining the phase step values for small data frames is not possible from
these two plots. Figure 1(c) shows the power spectrum obtained from the proposed method
using Eq. (15). We observe that the peaks are defined clearly and with improved accuracy as
compared to the plots obtained in Figs 1(a)-(b). The peaks are observed in this case at

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7166
α = 0, ±0.5768 radian with an error of 0.1389% . The proposed method can thus find the
frequency accurately even if the number of frames is limited.
Similarly, Figs. 2(a)-(b) show the power spectrum obtained from DFT and zero padded
DFT methods, respectively, for the second case (κ = 2 ) . To observe five peaks from small
number of data frames is a difficult task. The plot in Fig. 2(c) shows the power spectrum
corresponding to frequencies 0, ±α , and ± 2α obtained using Eq. (15) for NOF = 4096 ,
N = 12 , and SNR = 60 dB. In this case the peaks are observed at 0, ±0.5768, and ± 1.1508
radians with the percentage error of 0.0% , 0.1389% , and 0.0955% respectively
25 25 20

20 20 0
15 15
-20
dB

dB

dB
10 10
-40
5 5

0 0 -60

-5 -5 -80
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
× π rad/sample × π rad/sample × π rad/sample
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 2. Plots of power spectrum obtained for κ = 2 using a) Fourier transform b) Zero padded
Fourier transform and c) super-resolution Fourier transform for determining the phase step
values α .

Hence, we can state that the super-resolution Fourier transform method is more efficient
than both the Fourier transform and zero padded Fourier transform methods.
4. Evaluation of the algorithm
The proposed concept is tested by simulating fringe patterns in Eq. (1) with phase step
α = 0.5760 radian (33°), for κ = 1 and κ = 2 , and for different number of data frames in the
presence of noise. The minimum number of data frames required for retrieving the phase steps
are twice the number of frequencies present in the signal. However, the presence of random
noise necessitates acquiring large number of data frames. The number frequencies present in
the spectrum can be evaluated by well known classical signal processing techniques [22].The
first step in the proposed concept involves the design of a covariance matrix R I using Eq.
(3). The second step involves performing eigenvalue decomposition of matrix R I which
yields signal and noise subspaces as shown in Eq. (6). Further a power spectrum estimation is
performed using Eq. (15) for the noise eigenvectors by generating NOF frequencies between
0 and 2π . In the present simulation we consider NOF = 4096 . Finally, the frequencies or the
phase step values are estimated pixel wise from the peaks obtained using Eq. (15).
During the simulation, the signal-to-noise ratio ( SNR ) is varied from 10 − 80 dB in steps
of 0.1 dB . Figures 3(a)-(d) show the influence of an increase in the number of data
frames, N = 6,8,10, and 12 , while retrieving the phase step values for κ = 1 . As the number of
data frames increases, the phase step values can be reliably estimated at lower SNR's . For
instance, Fig. 3(c) shows that phase steps can be estimated, within allowable error in the
measurement, for SNR = 40 dB onwards as compared to SNR = 70 dB onwards in Fig. 3(b).
Similarly, Fig. 3(d) shows that phase steps can be estimated for SNR = 35 dB onwards.
Figures 3(e)-(h) show plots for retrieving phase steps from a signal with κ = 2 . The
number of data frames is obviously increased in the present case. The number of data frames

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
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 N=6 N=8
160 κ =1 160 κ =1
140 140

Phase Step

Phase Step
120 120
100 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

SNR (dB) SNR (dB)

(a) (b)

N = 10 N = 12
160 κ =1 160 κ =1
140 140
Phase Step

Phase Step
120 120

100 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

SNR (dB) SNR (dB)

(c) (d)

N = 10 N = 12
160 κ =2 160 κ =2
140 140
Phase Step

Phase Step

120 120
100 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

SNR (dB) SNR (dB)

(e) (f)

N = 14 N = 16
160 κ =2 160 κ =2

140 140
Phase Step

Phase Step

120 120

100 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

SNR (dB) SNR (dB)

(g) (h)

Fig. 3. Plots of phase step α (in degrees) versus SNR obtained using Eq. (15) at an arbitrary
pixel location on a data frame for (a) - (d) κ = 1 ; N = 6,8,10, and 12 , respectively, and
(e) - (h) κ = 2 ; N = 10,12,14, and16 , respectively.

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7168
used during the simulations are N = 10,12,14, and16 . Figures 3(e)-(h) show the influence of an
increase in the number of data frames on retrieving the phase step values. Figure 3(h) shows
that phase steps can be estimated for SNR = 27 dB onwards as compared to SNR = 45 dB
onwards in Fig. 3(f).

Table 1. Phase step estimation for various values of NOF and N = 8 and 12 . During simulation the phase step α is
taken as 33° , κ = 1 , and SNR = 40 dB .

N =8 N = 12
NOF Phase step α Percentage Error Phase step α Percentage Error
64 33.7500 2.2222 33.7500 2.2222
128 33.7500 2.2222 33.7500 2.2222
256 32.3438 2.0029 32.3438 2.0029
512 32.3438 2.0029 33.0469 0.1418
1024 32.3438 2.0029 33.0469 0.1418
2048 32.4756 1.6748 33.0469 0.1418
4096 32.5195 1.4775 33.9590 0.1244
8192 32.5195 1.4775 33.0029 0.0089

The estimation of phase steps can also be improved with an increase in the number of
frequencies NOF generated between [0, 2π ] in Eq. (15). The analysis in Table 1 shows a
reduction in the percentage error as the NOF increases. The simulation also shows a reduction
in the percentage error for the same NOF when the number of data frames are increased. For
N = 12 and NOF = 4096 , typical time for the computation of phase step at a pixel is 0.05
seconds on a desktop PC with Pentium IV 2.66 GHz processor.
20 20
e1 = 0% e1 = 1%

0 0
dB

dB

-20 -20

-40 -40

-60 -60
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
× π rad/sample × π rad/sample
(a) (b)
20 20
e1 = 5% e1 = 10%

0 0
dB

dB

-20 -20

-40 -40

-60 -60
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
× π rad/sample × π rad/sample
(c) (d)
Fig. 4. Plots of power spectrum for N = 12 data frames and κ =1 for various orders of
nonlinearity in the PZT response to the applied voltage.

Interestingly, under the controlled experimental conditions, that is, in the case of high
SNR data, the plots in Figs. (1) and (2) are qualitatively indicative of the nonlinearity present
in the PZT response to the applied voltage during phase stepping. Analysis of the response of

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7169
 (a) (b)

Fig.5 (a) Fringe pattern and (b) retrieved phase ϕ .

-3
x 10
7

6
Phase Error

0
100 200 300 400 500
Pixel

Fig. 6. Typical phase error in computation of phase distributions ϕ (in radians), for the phase
steps obtained from Fig 3(d) for SNR=30dB.

the PZT using Eq. (15) shows that when the PZT exhibits a nonlinear characteristic, the power
spectrum obtained is not sparse. Figures 4(a)-(d) demonstrate that as the quadratic
nonlinearity of the PZT response increases, the power spectrum shows broadening of the
peaks. Hence, for this method to work efficiently, the PZT should be used in the linear region.
Usually, if small increments in the voltages are applied to the PZT, then nearly uniform phase
steps can be obtained. Ironically, this analysis could also be used as a bench mark for
identifying the non-linear characteristics of the PZT.
The phase steps applied for N data frames in Figs 4(a)-(d) is assumed to follow the
response α t = α t + e1 ( tα ) 2 / 2π . During the simulation the phase step α is selected as
0.5760 radian. Figure 4(d) shows that for e1 = 10% , the power spectrum is not sparse as
compared to Fig. 4(a) where sharp peaks can be observed for e1 = 0% .
5. Estimation of phase distribution
Once the phase step values have been estimated, phase φ can be estimated using the
following expression

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7170
 ⎡ 1 1 . . 1⎤ ⎡ κ ⎤ ⎡ I0 ⎤
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ exp( jκα ) exp(− jκα ) . . 1⎥ ⎢ *κ ⎥ ⎢ I1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ exp(2 jκα ) exp(−2 jκα ) . . 1⎥ ⎢ κ −1 ⎥ ⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ =⎢ ⎥ (18)
⎢ . . . . .⎥ ⎢ . ⎥ ⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ . . . . .⎥ ⎢ . ⎥ ⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥

⎣exp [ ( N − 1) jκα ]
⎢
. . . 1⎦⎥ ⎣⎢ I dc ⎦⎥ ⎢
I ⎥
⎣ N −1 ⎦

where, 0, α , 2α ,...,( N − 1)α are the phase steps for frames I 0 , I1 , I 2 ,.., I N −1 respectively. The
phase ϕ is subsequently computed from the argument of 1 . Recall that k has been defined
in Eq. (1). Figure 5(b) shows the wrapped phase for the typical simulated fringe map in Fig.
5(a). During the simulation the phase ϕ in Eq. (1) is assumed to be randomly distributed
between 0 and 2π . Figure 6 shows typical error occurring during the estimation of phase ϕ
at SNR = 30 dB, and for the phase step value obtained in Fig. 3(d) for κ = 1 .
6. Conclusion
To conclude, we have proposed a novel approach to extract phase information from an
interferogram in the presence of harmonics. The proposed method offers the flexibility to use
arbitrary phase steps and also does not necessitate the addition of carrier fringes while
applying the Fourier transform method. The method thus overcomes, the limitations posed by
other well known methods which use tools such as Fourier and wavelet transforms for phase
estimation. The resolution in estimating the phase can be enhanced by acquiring large number
of data frames and also by increasing the NOF points, albeit at the expense of computational
cost. The proposed method is unique in the sense that it not only allows for the selection of
arbitrary phase steps and the use of non-collimated waveforms but also allows for the use of
multiple PZTs in an optical configuration. Incorporation of two PZTs was first proposed by
Rastogi [23] for holographic moiré. Inclusion of two PZTs in an optical set up paves the way
for extraction of two displacement components simultaneously. Hence, the proposed method
has the potential to cope with configurations containing multiple PZTs.
The proposed method requires a priori assumptions about the frequency contents in the
intensity and also the acquired samples should have a relatively sparse spectrum. This, of
course, does not matter in this application, since we know the spectrum is rather sparse (in the
absence of vibration) and that is the strength of the super-resolution method in this particular
application.
Acknowledgments
This research is partly funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Appendix
Let us consider a signal
κ κ
I ( t ) = I dc + ∑
k =1
ak exp ( jkϕ ) exp ( jα kt ) + ∑a
k =1
k exp ( − jkϕ ) exp ( − jα kt ) + η ( t ) ;

for t = 0,1,2,...,m...,N − 1
(A1)
Here, η ( t ) represents white Gaussian noise. The covariance of a function I ( t ) is defined as
[21]

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7171
 r ( p ) = E ⎡⎣ I ( t ) I * ( t − p ) ⎤⎦ (A2)

For simplicity, let us consider κ = 1 and rewrite Eq. (A1) as

I ( t ) = I dc + a1 exp ( jϕ ) exp ( jα t ) + a1 exp ( − jϕ ) exp ( − jα t ) + η ( t ) (A3)

Similarly, let us write I * ( t − p ) for κ = 1 as

I * ( t − p ) = I dc + a1 exp ( jϕ ) exp [ jα ( t − p )] + a1 exp ( − jϕ ) exp [ − jα ( t − p )] + η * ( t − p )

(A4)
Substituting Eqs. (A3) and A(4) in Eq. (A2), we obtain

2 + I a exp ( − jϕ ) exp ( − jα t ) + I a exp ( jϕ ) exp ( jα t ) ⎫

⎧ I dc dc 1 dc 1
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎡ a12 + I dc a1 exp ( − jϕ ) exp ( − jα t ) ⎤ ⎪
⎪ + exp ( jα p ) ⎢ ⎥ ⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎢⎣ + a12 exp ( −2 jϕ ) exp ( −2 jα t ) ⎥⎦ ⎪
⎪
r ( p ) = E ⎣⎡ I ( t ) I ( t − p ) ⎦⎤ = E ⎨
*
⎬
⎪ ⎡ a1 + I dc a1 exp ( jϕ ) exp ( jα t ) ⎤
2
⎪
⎪ + exp ( − jα p ) ⎢ 2 ⎥ ⎪
⎪ ⎢⎣ + a1 exp ( 2 jϕ ) exp ( 2 jα t ) ⎥⎦ ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪ +η ( t )η ( t − p )
⎩
*
⎪
⎭
(A5)
Equation (A5) can be written in the following compact form

r ( p ) = E ⎡⎣ I dc 1 1 ( 2 ) 1 3 ( )
2 + c + exp ( jα p ) a 2 + c + exp ( − jα p ) a 2 + c + η ( t )η * ( t − p ) ⎤
⎦
(A6)
where, c1 = I dc a1 exp ( − jϕ ) exp ( − jα t ) + I dc a1 exp ( jϕ ) exp ( jα t ) ,
c2 = I dc a1 exp ( − jϕ ) exp ( − jα t ) + a12 exp ( −2 jϕ ) exp ( −2 jα t ) , and c3 = c2* .

( 1 0) 1 2( 1 ) 1 3 2 (
2 + c = A2 , E a 2 + c = A2 , and E a 2 + c = A2 . Therefore,
Let, E I dc )
r ( p ) = A02 + A12 exp ( jα p ) + A22 exp ( − jα p ) + σ 2δ p ,0 (A7)

In Eq. (A7), δ p, 0 is the Kronecker delta ( δ g ,h = 1 if g = h and δ g ,h = 0 otherwise). The

expectation for the Gaussian noise η ( t ) is given by [24]

E ⎡⎣η ( g )η * ( h ) ⎤⎦ = σ 2δ g , h (A8)

In Eq. (A8), g and h are time parameters. In practice, expectation E in Eq. (2) is
computed by averaging over finite number of frames. If a large number of frames is taken for
averaging, the exponential terms containing t in c1 , c2 , and c3 , will oscillate uniformly
between 0 and 2π . In this limit, the expectation of c1 , c2 , and c3 will approach zero since
2π

∫ exp ( jψ ) dψ = 0
0
(A9)

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7172
 However, if finite number of frames are taken for averaging, expectation c1 , c2 , and c3
will have a small finite value different from zero. Hence, for κ harmonics in the intensity, the
final derivation of covariance of I ( t ) is given by
2κ
r ( p ) = E ⎡⎣ I ( t ) I ∗ ( t − p ) ⎤⎦ = ∑
n =0
An2 exp ( jω n p ) + σ 2δ p ,0 (A10)

#8347 - $15.00 USD Received 1 August 2005; revised 28 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
(C) 2005 OSA 5 September 2005 / Vol. 13, No. 18 / OPTICS EXPRESS 7173