Improved accuracy phase retrieval in spatial phase-shifting interferometry

Algorithms for phase retrieval in spatial phase-shifting interferometry are examined. It is noticed that the classical Carre technique based on four neighbor pixels may introduce shaped phase residuals that affect the accuracy of the reconstruction. A variant of the technique is proposed, taking into consideration five pixels and steering the phase retrieval algorithm to the appropriate subset so that residuals are free of underlying errors. Computational results are presented illustrating the approach and demonstrating the accuracy improvement in a case study. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.