Application of moiré technique to the measurement of modulation transfer functions (MTF) of printing systems

It is shown theoretically and verified experimentally that by writing a low spatial frequency Ronchi grating by a computer and printing two copies of it on two transparencies by a printer, the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the printed image can be evaluated by measuring the transmittance of the superimposed gratings in a moiré fringe spacing. Application of the technique is quite simple and the results are reasonably reproducible. The technique does not require a high sensitive intensity detector and a very narrow slit for transmission scanning. Also, the presented technique can be applied to other imaging systems.     

Computer Aided Moiré Methods

Computer aided moiré methods (CAMM) use the versatility of the computer to manipulate gratings rapidly, the basis of all moiré methods. Application of CAMM to moiré teaching, in-plane moiré, shadow and projection moiré and reflection moiré are reviewed in this paper.     

Electron moiré method and its application to micro-deformation measurement

In this paper, the single and two deposited metal layers method were proposed to produce the model grating for electron moiré method. The measurement principle of electron moiré method and the techniques for manufacturing model grid are expounded in detail. The accuracy of measuring strain using this method is discussed. The gratings with single deposited layer and two deposited layers with high frequency up to 5000 lines/mm were produced on different substrates. From the experimental results, both single deposited metal layer and two deposited metal layers gratings showed their heat resistance ability. Using the gratings produced and a replicated model grid, the electron moiré method was applied to measure the deformation of the strain around holes in a polyimide resin substrate, thermal strain of electronic packaging component and tensile creep around grain boundary in a pure copper specimen.     

Geometric micron-moiré

A high spatial resolution and high-sensitivity geometric micron-moiré method is presented. The method is based upon classical geometric moiré method and microscopic principle, the frequency of the specimen and reference gratings used in this method can be higher than 1000 lines/mm. By a microscopic moiré system, the high-frequency gratings could be magnified to a low-frequency level, so geometric moiré patterns can be formed. Experiments show that both the spatial resolution and the sensitivity can reach or exceed micron-level.     

A moiré method of visualizing electromagnetic force lines

We propose a simple moiré method of visualizing electromagnetic force lines. The indicial equation is first derived for the tangent (or normal) curve to the electric field (or magnetic induction) around two parallel-line charges (or currents). The derived equation is then shown to have a one-to-one correspondence with that of the moiré fringe formed by two overlapped radial gratings. Since the tangent (or normal) curve to the electric field (or the magnetic induction) corresponds to the direction of the electric (or magnetic) force on a test charge (or current), the radial grating moirés can be used for the visualization of electric (or magnetic) force lines.     

Moiré fringes

This review paper clarifies the characteristics of the incoherent-and-multiplicative type moiré fringe phenomenon, presents examples of the application of these characteristics to measurement and explains the profile prediction method and the sharpening conditions of moiré fringes formed by two binary gratings.     

Localisation of fringes in moiré topography

The moiré pattern produced by two separate gratings is characterised by a fringe localisation phenomenon. A theory based on the geometric shadow of light can account for the spatial location of moiré fringes in topographical applications. The fringe location depends on the optical arrangement of the system and also on the surface slope of the specimen. Experimental results are introduced into practical usage.     

A study on the digital moiré technique with circular and radial gratings

A digital moiré technique with circular and radial gratings is proposed to measure in-plane displacement and strain distributions of soft materials in a polar coordinate system. By introducing the coordinate-transform technique, the concentric circles and radial lines in the Cartesian coordinate system are converted to cross gratings in a polar coordinate system. Then, the digital moiré fringes are generated using logical and filter operations on the one-bit binary images. Finally, the in-plane displacement distributions are obtained by means of the four step phase-shifting procedure. Also, the measurement principles and the basic procedures of the new digital moiré technique are explained in detail. An application for rubber sheet with a single-edge crack is studied, and the experimental results show that the presented method is feasible.     

The phase shift method applied to cross grating moiré measurements

The automatic evaluation of the grating deformation in a moiré image is greatly enhanced by the phase shift method. Based on three or more local grey values of a related number of phase shifted moiré patterns, the local displacement of a deformed grating against a reference grating, and hence the total displacement in one direction, is calculated. In this paper an extension to cross gratings is presented yielding a two- dimensional displacement field.     

Novel method for testing the long focal length lens of large aperture

In this paper, we present a novel method for testing the long focal length lens of large aperture, which is realized by calculating the angle of moiré fringe formed by Talbot image of two Ronchi gratings. A scanning method was developed to measure the focal length with the collimated lights projected on the different aperture position of the lens. Experiment data demonstrates that this method can be applied to the real-time long focal length measurement with high accuracy.     

Experimental tire mechanics by moiré

Tires and their component parts are made from various low modulus rubbers and cord/rubber laminates. In service they typically undergo large deformations of about 1–30%. The accurate measurement of these deformations by either pointwise (strain gage) or full-field (optical) techniques is rendered difficult in these circumstances. Ordinary strain gages reinforce these soft structures and inhibit their deformation, whereas most optical methods are too sensitive to measure large motions. These difficulties can be overcome by the judicious use of various moiré methods: moiré interferometry, geometric moiré and shadow moiré.Several applications of moiré methods to tire mechanics problems are presented. The emphasis is on the range of problems that has been successfully approached and on the results obtained. Examples are drawn from work on belt-edge strains, tread groove strains, sidewall strains, dynamic sidewall deformations and material properties determination. Proprietary details of technique are not included.     

Phase shifting nano-moiré method with scanning tunneling microscope

In this paper, a new nano-moiré method using scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is proposed. This method is capable of measuring nanoscopic deformation of matter. The formation mechanism of the STM moiré fringe and the phase shifting technique used in STM moiré fringes are explained in details. Typical experiments are conducted with the crystal lattices of freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, are used as specimen grating, to generate STM moiré fringe patterns. Phase shifting is realized in four steps from 0 to 2π by controlling the PZT in the STM system to shift the specimen in the vertical direction. This method provides a new way for disposal of moiré fringes pattern in the nano-moiré measurement.     

Refractive power mapping of progressive power lenses using Talbot interferometry and digital image processing

A method of refractive power mapping of a lens is presented which is based on Talbot interferometry and utilizes a digital image processor. By adding a digital image processing system, fast measurement of a lens power distribution is feasible. A test lens is placed in front of two collinearly arranged gratings. The light passing through the test lens produces a shifted Talbot image of the first grating on the second grating and generates moiré fringes. Given the inclination angle of moiré fringes, the refractive power of the lens can be calculated. The calculation is performed using a digital image processor. This method is effective in finding the refractive power distribution of progressive power lenses.     

Contribution to analysis of the reflection grating method

The reflection grating method is a special case of the well-known reflection moiré principle. Whereas this moiré effect is suitable for measurement of the slope and curvature of deformed object surfaces by superposition of at least two grating images, the same results can be determined using only one reflected grating image without moiré lines.Some fundamental relationships between grating lines, optical setup and the desired deformation are developed and compared with the simplifications that are known from the moiré principle. The theory is tested using a circular plate, uniformly loaded and clamped at the circumference.     

Analysis of CCD moiré pattern for micro-range measurements using the wavelet transform

A new approach based on the moiré theory and wavelet transform (WT) is proposed for measuring the micro-range distance between a charge-couple-device (CCD) camera and a two-dimensional reference grating. The micro-range distance is determined by measuring the pitch of the moiré pattern image, which is digitized by a CCD camera. A one-dimensional WT algorithm is applied to estimate the pitch of the moiré pattern. Experimental results prove that this technique is very efficient and highly accurate. The moiré range finder is an economic technique for measuring a micro-range distance.     

Bandwidth controllable transmission filter based on Moiré fiber Bragg grating

A new and efficient technique for fabrication of bandwidth controllable π–phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based on moiré grating using a uniform phase mask is demonstrated. The feasibility of writing a moiré grating into an ordinary SMF-28 fiber using stretching and double exposure by ultraviolet fringe is reported. We analyzed the relation between the initial differentia of phase of two exposures and the transmission spectrum of phase-shifted FBG. Moreover, we present a novel method to control the initial differentia of phase of two exposures. Using this technique, two kinds of resonant filters with a 3-dB line-width of 0.01 nm centered at 1553.79 nm and of 0.5 nm centered at 1554.57 nm respectively were fabricated with same uniform phase mask.     

Bandwidth controllable transmission filter based on Moiré fiber Bragg grating

A new and efficient technique for fabrication of bandwidth controllable π–phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based on moiré grating using a uniform phase mask is demonstrated. The feasibility of writing a moiré grating into an ordinary SMF-28 fiber using stretching and double exposure by ultraviolet fringe is reported. We analyzed the relation between the initial differentia of phase of two exposures and the transmission spectrum of phase-shifted FBG. Moreover, we present a novel method to control the initial differentia of phase of two exposures. Using this technique, two kinds of resonant filters with a 3-dB line-width of 0.01 nm centered at 1553.79 nm and of 0.5 nm centered at 1554.57 nm respectively were fabricated with same uniform phase mask.     

Automatic fringe analysis for moiré topography

Two digital systems are developed for the automatic measurement of 3-D shapes using moiré techniques—an automatic 3-D shape measuring system using the scanning moiré method and an interactive fringe analysing system for moiré fringe photographs. In the automatic 3-D shape measuring system, a deformed grating is scanned and sampled with an electronic image scanning device so that moiré fringes are generated in a computer. This technique of electronic fringe generation eliminates ambiguity with regard to the sign of the moiré fringes. The interactive fringe analyser provides a flexible and versatile tool for moiré fringe analysis. Medical applications of these analysing systems are discussed.     

Analysis of moiré fringes for measuring the focal length of lenses

We describe a technique based on fast Fourier transform and least-squares fit for automated analysis of moiré fringe patterns for accurately measuring the focal length of lenses. An interference fringe pattern is produced by a reflective diffraction grating interferometer and illuminates the test lens. Moiré fringes are generated by digitally superimposing the magnified fringe pattern imaged by the lens on the interference fringe pattern without the test lens. We analyze two common ways to generate the digital moiré effect: multiplication and subtraction with successive rectification of the two digitally stored intensity distributions, and we show that in the latter case by means of the described technique it is possible to determine the moiré spatial frequency by a simple and fully automated procedure.