Regularized quadrature and phase tracking from a single closed-fringe interferogram

A new sequential phase demodulator based on a regularized quadrature and phase tracker system (RAPT) is applied to demodulate two-dimensional fringe patterns. This RQPT system tracks the fringe pattern's quadrature and phase in a sequential way by following the path of the fringes. To make the RAPT system more robust to noise, the modulating phase around a small neighborhood is modeled as a plane and the quadrature of the signal is estimated simultaneously with the fringe's modulating phase. By sequentially calculating the quadrature of the fringe pattern, one obtains a more robust sequential demodulator than was previously possible. This system may be applied to the demodulation of a single interferogram having closed fringes. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.