| Abstract: | In this paper, we describe a new method for achieving phase-difference amplification, which is quick and convenient, operates in real time, and requires no photographic steps. Magnification factors of 2, 4 or 6 are achieved easily in one step. Because the system operates in real time, phase stepping may be applied to extract the amplified phase distributions. Our method is a variation on longitudinally reversed shearing interferometry, using first- or higher-order diffraction from a grating (hologram) which is in fact the interferogram of the wavefront under test. The grating is derived from a standard two-beam interferometer which is phase-stepped, and displayed in real time on a spatial light modulator in the phase-difference amplification setup. It is illuminated by the two output beams from a Sagnac interferometer, similar to the set up used by (Barnes et al. Barnes TH, Eiju T, Matsuda K. Appl Opt 1986; 25:1864). for spectral resolution enhancement, and a phase-amplified fringe pattern is obtained by spatial filtering using a Fourier transform lens. We demonstrate operation of the phase amplifier and show amplified phase maps retrieved by phase-stepping. We believe this is the first time that real-time phase amplification without photographic steps and with phase stepping has been demonstrated. |
