Speckle-pattern interferometry applied to the study of phase objects

If a speckle pattern is photographed through a phase object, the individual speckles are displaced over varying distances depending upon the phase irregularities in the object. A double exposure is made, the object being present during one of the two exposures only. When the processed photographic plate is observed through an aperture stop in the Fourier transform plane, interference fringes representing contours of the optical path gradient are obtained. The sensitivity of the method and the direction along which the gradient is measured can be varied by modifying, respectively, the distance of the Fourier-plane aperture from the optical axis and its azimuth.