Parallel two-step spatial carrier phase-shifting interferometric phase microscopy with fast phase retrieval

Abstract

A method of parallel two-step spatial carrier phase-shifting two-window interferometer with fast phase retrieval is applied for microscopic imaging. The method prior captures interferograms offline without any sample only once. As a consequence, the interferograms for a phase sample can be acquired by camera in a single shot, and the phase distribution of the sample can be then reconstructed without phase unwrapping process if the phase variance is less than 2 π . This method can eliminate the aberration and noise of the system and phase tilt at the same time, and thus improve the phase retrieval speed. Experiments are demonstrated to prove the validation of the presented method.