Real-time visualisation of deformation fields using speckle interferometry and temporal phase unwrapping

A real-time system for analysing data from speckle interferometers, and speckle shearing interferometers, has been developed. Interferograms are continuously recorded by a digital camera at a rate of 60 frames s⁻¹ with temporal phase shifting carried out at the same rate. The images are analysed using a pipeline image processor. With a standard 4-frame phase-shifting algorithm (phase steps of π/2), wrapped phase maps are calculated and displayed at 15 frames s⁻¹. These are unwrapped using a temporal phase unwrapping algorithm to provide a real-time colour-coded display of the relevant displacement component. Each camera pixel (or cluster of pixels) behaves in effect as an independent displacement sensor. The reference speckle interferogram is updated automatically at regular user-defined intervals, allowing arbitrarily large deformations to be measured and errors due to speckle decorrelation to be minimised. The system has been applied to the problem of detecting sub-surface delamination cracks in carbon fibre composite panels.     

Quantitative phase retrieval in dynamic laser speckle interferometry

The rapid progress of modern manufacturing and inspection technologies has posed stringent requirements on optical techniques for vibration characterization and dynamic testing. Due to its simplicity, accuracy and whole-field characters, laser speckle interferometry has served as one of the major techniques for dynamic measurement. In this paper, a two-step phase shifting method is developed for quantitative speckle phase measurement, which helps to eliminate the specklegrams needed for phase evaluation and facilitate dynamic measurement. Unlike previously reported two-step methods using fringe patterns with known phase shift of π/2, a small unknown phase shift is employed instead in the proposed method, which eliminates the need for phase shifting devices. Further investigation shows that small phase shifts are preferable over large phase shifts in this method. Shearographic experiments conducted have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed technique.     

Continual deformation analysis with scanning phase method and time sequence phase method in temporal speckle pattern interferometry

If a laser beam illuminates a continual deformation object surface, it will lead to a temporal speckle pattern on the observation plane. Recording this time-dependent speckle pattern the deformation of the surface of an object can be obtained. Two methods, scanning phase method (SPM) and time sequence phase method (TSPM), have been introduced for measuring the displacement caused by the deformation in temporal speckle pattern interferometry (TSPI). Their principle is that by capturing a series of speckle interference patterns related to the object deformations, the fluctuations in the intensity of the interference patterns can be obtained. Through scanning these fluctuations and estimating both the average intensity and modulation of the temporal speckle interference patterns, the phase maps for whole-field displacements are calculated. In this way one is capable of quantitatively measuring continual displacements simply using a conventional electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) system without phase shifting or a carrier. The elaboration on the new methods is given in this paper and experiments are performed to demonstrate their performance with a conventional ESPI system.     

Comparison of phase recovery methods in spiral speckle pattern interferometry correlation fringes

Spiral interferometry can be used as a solution to the problem of sign ambiguity presented in the conventional speckle pattern interferometric technique when the optical phase needs to be reconstructed from a single closed fringe system. Depressions and elevations of the topography corresponding to the object deformation are distinguished by the direction of rotation of the local spiral fringe pattern. In this work, we implement and compare several methods for optical phase reconstruction by analyzing a single image composed of spiral speckle pattern interferometry correlation fringes. The implemented methods are based on contour line demodulation, center line demodulation, Spiral Phase Quadrature Transform and the 2D Riesz transform with multivector structure. Contour line and center line demodulation approaches are exclusively dedicated to images containing a fringe system with spiral structure. The others are based on the 2D Riesz transform, these being well known approaches in conventional interferometry. We examine simulated experiments and analyze some of the emerging drawbacks for solving the phase reconstruction problem by using different mean values of speckle size and background noise levels. We also discuss several numerical procedures that may well improve the efficiency and robustness of the presented numerical implementations. The performance of the implemented demodulation methods is evaluated by using a universal image quality index and therefore a quantitative comparison is also presented.     

Adaptive filter for unwrapping noisy phase image in phase-stepping interferometry

An adaptive filter for preprocessing wrapped phase image with high noise content has been developed. The window size of this median filter is adjustable according to its location in the noisy phase image. This size-adjustable median filter has not only high noise-rejection ability, but also both good phase-jump identification and image-detail preservation properties. Phase unwrapping can then be done to recover the real phase image without the hampering influence of noise, especially the noise near the phase jumps. Both numerical simulation and experimental results used to examine the effectiveness of this adaptive filter are presented.     

Deformation field induced by spherical indentation: numerical analysis and experimental measurement by speckle interferometry

The present paper describes an experimental procedure for the measurement of the displacement field around a spherical indentation. The measurements were performed by a speckle interferometer designed for the detection on small areas of one or more oblique components of displacement; the indentations were made by a standard durometer used for metals.The experiments were carried out on a hardened and tempered steel, previously characterized by a standard tensile test; the results are in accordance with the numerical results obtained by an elasto-plastic FEM analysis.     

Accuracy and sensitivity of a hole drilling and digital speckle pattern interferometry combined technique to measure residual stresses

This paper reports on the accuracy and sensitivity of digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) when it is combined with the hole drilling technique for measuring residual stresses. The in-plane displacement field generated by the introduction of a small hole is determined using an automated data analysis approach. This method is based on the calculation of the optical phase distribution through a phase-shifting method and the application of a robust iterative phase unwrapping algorithm. It is experimentally demonstrated that residual stresses can be measured with a relative uncertainty of 7.5%. It is also shown that the minimum value of residual stress that can be determined with the DSPI and hole drilling combined technique is about 10% of the yield stress of the material.     

Measurement of non-monotonous phase changes in temporal speckle pattern interferometry using a correlation method without a temporal carrier

Recently, a phase evaluation method was proposed to measure nanometric displacements by means of digital speckle pattern interferometry when the phase change introduced by the deformation is in the range [0,π) rad. This method is based on the evaluation of a correlation coefficient between two speckle interferograms generated by both deformation states of the object. In this paper, we present a novel technique to measure non-monotonous displacements in temporal speckle pattern interferometry using a correlation method without a temporal carrier. In this approach, the sign ambiguity is resolved automatically due to the introduction of a function that determines the correct sign of the displacement between two consecutive speckle interferograms. The rms phase errors introduced by the proposed method are determined using computer-simulated speckle interferograms. An application of the phase retrieval method to process experimental data is also presented.     

Self-marking phase-stepping electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) for determining a phase map with least residues

Different from most of the electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) approaches, which involve the correlation fringe formulation followed by speckle noise elimination (or filtering), to develop a wrapped phase map, this study adopts the approach proposed by Creath in 1985 instead. However, Creath's approach is so critical of its applying interferograms, the influence of which is dependent on the robustness of the applied phase-shifting algorithm and the accuracy of the phase shifter. The self-marking technique proposed by Huang and Chou in 2000 is adopted herein to help overcome any unfavorable conditioning, including hysteresis, nonlinearity or plane tilting, of the pieozo-electrical transducer (PZT), to enable the successful implementation of the Creath's method. With its help, the whole phase stepping history of a practical work (i.e., an ESPI experiment for the present study) can be fully recorded and monitored. Thus, the required phase stepping frames can be accordingly decided and their further calculation will yield a phase map with least number of residues.     

Phase retrieval in two-wavelength DSSI using a combined filtering method

Phase retrieval in two-wavelength DSSI (digital speckle shearing interferometry) using a combined filtering method is proposed for small deformation derivative measurement. A simultaneous two-wavelength illumination and 3-CCD camera are employed in the experimental setup. The proposed method, which uses a two-wavelength technique does not require the conventional spatial phase unwrapping and has the advantage of good noise suppression for phase retrieval. Experimental results obtained show that using the proposed combined filtering method sensitivity similar to the single wavelength technique can be achieved.     

Matched data storage in ESPI by combination of spatial phase shifting with temporal phase unwrapping

We combine the spatial phase-shifting technique with the real-time fringe counting capability of temporal phase unwrapping to provide simple solutions for some practical tasks in ESPI. First, we develop a method for automatically matched data storage intervals and apply this technique to a long-term observation of a biological object with strongly varying deformation rate. Second, we easily obtain on-line displacement and deformation data during the observation of a complexly structured discontinuous object.     

Low-frequency harmonic vibration analysis with temporal speckle pattern interferometry

In this paper, the time sequence phase method (TSPM) has been applied to measure the displacement caused by low-frequency vibration in temporal speckle pattern interferometry (TSPI). The principle is that by capturing the temporal speckle patterns related to the object vibration, the whole-field displacement responses (amplitude and phase) of the vibrating object can be calculated through scanning these fluctuations. Thus, quantitative measurement can be carried out using a conventional ESPI system without a camera synchronized to the object vibration or a phase shifting system. The elaboration on the method is given and experimental results are presented.     

A simple phase unwrapping approach based on filtering by windowed Fourier transform

Phase unwrapping is an interesting yet challenging problem in optical interferometry. In this paper, we limit our interest to unwrapping noisy phase maps as it is a common but difficult task. Our aim is to propose a simple solution to phase unwrapping. We first remove the noise by a novel windowed Fourier transform approach and then use sequential line scanning method for phase unwrapping. This simple approach is verified to be very effective.     

Analysis of mechanical vibrations through speckle interferometry: A phase-space approach

The goal of this paper is to determine hidden periodicities (spatial frequencies) into speckles patterns obtained in a diffuser after reflection of an unexpanded laser beam over an aluminum membrane by means of the so-called Wigner Distribution Function (WDF). These spatial frequencies are used to find the temporal frequencies at which the mechanic system is vibrating.     

A comparative study of phase-shifting algorithms in digital speckle pattern interferometry

Digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) is a tool for making qualitative as well as quantitative measurements of deformation of objects. Phase-shifting algorithms in DSPI are useful for extracting quantitative deformation data from the system. Comparative studies of the different phase-shifting algorithms in DSPI for object deformation measurement are presented. Static and quasi-dynamic deformation of the object can be measured using these algorithms. Error compensating five-step phase-shifting method is used for the algorithms.     

Measurement of tilt of a diffuse object by double-exposure speckle photography using speckle fanning in a photorefractive BaTiO3 crystal

A technique has been proposed for the measurement of tilt of a diffuse object using speckle fanning in a photorefractive BaTiO₃ crystal. Free space geometry has been used for recording in which the axis of rotation of the object lies away in three-dimensional space. The method is based on recording of two exposures, one before- and another after the tilt, thus producing speckle correlation fringes due to overlapping of two speckle fans. We consider a generalized case of tilt, generating curved fringes with center shifted in the transverse direction. The axis of rotation lies perpendicular to the optical axis in three-dimensional space having the transverse and axial components of the shift in the center of rotation with respect to the diffuser plane. Fourier transform of the curved fringes produces correlation output. Measure of separation between the correlation peaks in transverse and axial directions provides information about the tilt angle, the direction of tilt, and the distance of rotation axis from the optical axis. Experimental results have been presented to validate the theoretical predictions.     

Speckle interferometry for measurement of continuous deformations

Improvements of a method for measurement of continuous displacements and deformations with digital phase shifting speckle pattern interferometry are presented. The method is based on an algorithm that, with the knowledge of the initial phase, only needs one image at a time to evaluate continuos phase changes due to object deformations. In the improved method, the initial random phase of the speckle pattern is evaluated using a number of phase-shifted images before the deformation under study. This is used for increasing the accuracy of the initial phase estimation and reducing influences from image noise and other measurement disturbances. The phase-shifted speckle patterns are used as references for comparison with the speckle patterns of the deformed object, thereby increasing the reliability and accuracy of the phase estimations of the deformed patterns. The technique can be used for measuring deformations such as transients and other dynamic events, heat expansion as well as other phenomena where it is difficult to accomplish phase shifting during deformation.