Demodulation of noisy interferograms with rapid phase variations and amplitude fluctuations using a surrogate...

Area of Science:

• Optical Physics
• Image Processing
• Biomedical Optics

Background:

• Interferometry is crucial for precise measurements but is often degraded by noise and rapid phase variations.
• Existing phase retrieval methods struggle with localized amplitude fluctuations and non-linearities.
• Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) requires robust phase extraction for detailed cellular imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an optimization-based method for reliable phase extraction from challenging interferograms.
• To address limitations of current techniques in handling noise and amplitude variations.
• To validate the method's performance in both simulations and experimental DHM of biological samples.

Main Methods:

• Phase retrieval modeled using a cost function with non-convex, non-smooth total generalized variational regularization.
• Application of the surrogate principle to convert the cost function into a convex form for optimization.
• Implementation within an optimization framework for efficient phase extraction.

Main Results:

• Simulation results confirm the method's effectiveness in accurately extracting phase information.
• Demonstrated successful application in experimental digital holographic microscopy.
• The method shows robustness against noise, rapid phase variations, and localized amplitude fluctuations.

Conclusions:

• The proposed optimization-based method offers a significant advancement in phase extraction from corrupted interferograms.
• The technique is experimentally validated and suitable for complex imaging scenarios like DHM.
• This approach enhances the reliability and accuracy of phase retrieval in optical metrology and microscopy.