Optical phase retrieving of a projected object by employing a differentiation of a single pattern of two-beam interference

In this work, we present a new approach to retrieve the optical phase map of an object which is projected by a single differentiated two-beam interference pattern. This approach is based on the differentiation of the intensity equation of the two-beam interference with respect to the carrier’s phase angle. Therefore, two interference patterns which are shifted by a very small phase angle can be obtained. Then, these two patterns are projected on the object. By exploiting the definition of the mathematical differentiation, the optical phase object’s variations are retrieved from the recorded intensity distributions of both projected patterns. According to this method, the extracted optical phase angles are raised as an inverse “sin” function. This means that the unwrapping process of this function limits the recovered phase angles between − π/2 and π/2. So, the unwrapping process of these unusual wrapped phase angles is explained. The proposed method is applied on (a) two objects which are simulated by combinations of multiple Gaussian functions and (b) a 3D real object. It is found that the inclination of the projected interference pattern on the object redistributes the intensity distribution due to the Lamber’s “cos” aw of illumination. This effect is considered in the retrieving process of the object’s phase map. The limitations of the presented method are discussed and the obtained results are found promising.