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Development of a phase shifting

interferometer using recycled
components

Islas Islas, J. M., Guzman Barraza, A., Barron Romero, G.,

Resendiz-Lopez, G., Monzalvo-Hernandez, A., et al.

J. M. Islas Islas, A. Guzman Barraza, G. Barron Romero, G. Resendiz-Lopez,

A. Monzalvo-Hernandez, Noel Ivan Toto-Arellano, G. Ortega, V. H. F. Muñoz,
"Development of a phase shifting interferometer using recycled components,"
Proc. SPIE 11490, Interferometry XX, 1149012 (21 August 2020); doi:
10.1117/12.2568890

Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2020, Online Only

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 Development of a phase shifting interferometer using recycled
components
J. M. Islas Islas,a, A. Guzman Barraza,b G. Barron Romeroa,, G. Resendiz-Lopez,a A. Monzalvo-
Hernandez,a Noel-Ivan Toto-Arellano.a,* G. Ortega,b and V.H. F. Muñoz.c
a
Cuerpo Académico de Ingeniería Ciencias e Innovación Tecnológica, Universidad Tecnológica de
Tulancingo, Hgo. 43645, México. bUniversidad Politécnica de Tulancingo , Hgo. 43629, México.
c
Universidad Politécnica del Bicentenario, México.

ABSTRACT

We present the development of a single shot interferometric system based on polarization and diffractive elements
recovered from spare computers. The use of salvaged lenses, beam splitter cubes and linear polarizers lower the cost of
our system in comparison with those already reported. Our system is also capable of dynamic phase measurements with
an accuracy comparable to similar implementations with high end manufactured optics. We report here our results obtained
from four simultaneous interference patterns. The presented interferometer can be easily implemented for various
applications in single shot polarizing phase shifting interferometry.

Keywords: Simultaneous phase shifting; Metrology; Phase Measurements

1. INTRODUCTION
The interferometric techniques provide high precision shape measurements of samples of various kinds and sizes in a non-
invasive way [1-3], which is very useful in several areas such as manufacturing, biomedical and basic research fields[4-
6]. Most of these measurement systems are based on temporal or spatial processing techniques applied to interferograms
to extract the optical phase information encoded in them[1,7]. Some spare, old or non functioning electronics can be a free
source of optical components, with sufficient quality to build interferometers for research purposes or as a tool for
analyzing transparent samples. In this work, we present a simultaneous phase shift interferometric system based on
polarization and diffractive elements recovered from non functioning computers. Our experimental results show that the
recycled optical components can be used for analysis of phase objects.

2. SALVAGED OPTICAL COMPONENTS FROM ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Interferometric systems allow us to analyze step-by-step or in real-time varying phase objects [5-7]. However, some
laboratories can not afford to buy expensive optical components to build interferometers. For this reason we show that it
is possible to develop low-cost systems capable of performing dynamic phase measurements with accuracy comparable to
systems with high quality optical elements. Several optical components can be recovered from unused computers,
projectors or LCD displays, such as lenses, beam splitters and diffraction gratings, see Fig. 1. In order to use such
components in our system, we had to measure and characterize their properties. For example, recovered diffraction gratings
were 3mm x 3mm in size and a d  6.62 m period.

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. (a) Recovered optical components: 1. lens, 2 & 3 beam splitters. 4 & 5 gratings. (b) Parts of the PC from which the
optics were recovered

Interferometry XX, edited by Michael B. North Morris, Katherine Creath,

Rosario Porras-Aguilar, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 11490, 1149012· © 2020
SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/20/$21 · doi: 10.1117/12.2568890

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 11490 1149012-1

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 3. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The implemented experimental system is shown in Fig. 2. A laser beam of λ=530 nm passes through a linear polarizer
with polarization axis at 45°. Then, the beam is filtered and collimated to generate a plane wave front polarized at 45°. For
the analysis of the samples, and due to the scale of the recovered components, we used a 3mm focal length lens as objective
in order to analyze microscopic samples. The microscope objectives are placed in both arms of the Michelson
interferometer (MI). In order to create two orthogonally polarized beams in the MI we placed polarizers with 0° and 90°
axis in the beams: Aobj (sample phase object) and Bref (reference) respectively. Hence, we have orthogonal beams at the
exit of the MI, where we place a quarter wave plate (QWP) of λ/4 to turn them into two beams with circular polarization
with opposed signs. The exit of the MI was coupled to a 4-f system with a 2D diffraction grating at the Fourier to multiplex
the pattern. The 2D-grating was carefully constructed by superposition of two recycled gratings with their respective
grating vectors at 90° at the Fourier plane. The phase shift between interference patterns can be introduced by placing the
linear polarizers at appropriate angles ψ, so that interference patterns at the image plane, centered at each diffraction order,
will be given by [7]:

I ' ( x, y ) 
N

L
 C yl
n N l  L
2
 
C xn 2  a 2  b 2  ab cos2   x , y  (1)

where x   x  n d and y   y  l d . Eq. (1) describes the replicas of the interference pattern generated by the MI
displaced to the nth and lth diffraction orders created by the constructed 2D diffraction grating; each replica of
the main pattern maintains an intensity modulated by Fourier Coefficients C n and Cl corresponding to each
direction.

Fig.2. Experimental setup: Laser operating at =532nm, SFS Spatial Filter System, L0 collimating lens. Pi: Linear Polarizers, Mi
Mirrors, MO Microscopic objective, LMO: collimating lens. BS: beam splitter, QWP Quarter Wave Plate, G(μ,ν) 2D Grating, L1,
L2 lens of 4-f system, L3 imaging lens, PA Polarizers array,. CC CMOS Camera, PO Phase object. . L1, L2: f=100mm.

Diffraction patterns generated by our constructed 2D grating before passing through the polarizers array are shown in Fig.
3(a) where it can be seen that the amplitude spectra for each axis show more than three orders of diffraction outside the
central 3 x 3 patterns matrix with much lower intensity. Fig. 3(b) shows the nine central interference patterns used for our
study. We selected four out of nine simultaneous interference patterns: (-1, 1), (1, 1), (-1, -1) and (1, -1). Considering this,
each identical replica obtained will need to pass through polarizers at one of the following angles:
 1  0  2  45  3  90  4  135 generating the respective phase shifts ( 𝜉 ) of 0, 90, 180 and 270 .

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 With these elements, we were able to build an interferometer which generates four simultaneous interference patterns,
spatially separated, in the same image given by [7]:

I 1 ( x, y )  A 2  B 2  AB cos ( x, y )
I 2 ( x, y )  A 2  B 2  AB sin  ( x, y ) . (2)
I 3 ( x, y )  A  B  AB cos ( x, y )
2 2

I 4 ( x, y )  A 2  B 2  AB sin  ( x, y )

where A² + B² corresponds to the bias term, AB is the amplitude modulation and the phase at each point is given by:

 I2  I4 
 ( x, y)  tan 1   (3)
 I1  I 3 
The evaluated phase is wrapped between [−π, π] due to arctangent function, while in order to remove the background
reference phase a reference map is needed [8] and has to be measured beforehand. We used the Quality-Guided Path
Following Method for unwrapping the phase [9].

Fig. 3 (a)Diffraction orders before placing polarizers array, (b) Simultaneous patterns passing through polarizers array. The lines
connect the patterns used for processing to obtain the optical phase, for convenience only the four patterns shown by the dotted
line were used.

4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The developed interferometric system uses a laser operating at 532 nm and an imaging sensor (CMOS camera) with a
2048 x 1536 pixels array. To register and process the four interferograms from a single camera image, we placed apertures
at the entrance to the sensor. We calculated the centroid of each replica in order to generate a circular mask around each
of the four interferograms to separate them. The optical phase is obtained by using the well-known four-step algorithm
[8]. Fig. 4 shows interferograms for the tilted plane wavefront, in figure 4(a) shown the four simultaneous patterns used.
Fig. 4(b) the processed patterns are shown and in Fig. 4(c) and 4(d) the wrapped and recovered phase map respectively.
Figure 5 shows the results obtained with human red blood cells deposited on a cover-slip by smears, where our calibration
was made assuming the mean thickness of the red blood cells calculated by OPD/∆n=3.2 μm where ∆n is the mean
refraction index of the red blood cells assumed as 1.395. Figures 5(a)-(b) show the selected interferograms and the
processed patterns respectively. In Figure 5(c) the wrapped phase is shown and in figure 5(d) the recovery optical phase.
To show the advantages of the implemented system we tested a dynamic phase, in this case a thin flame candle. A
representative frame of the dynamic phase map (see video) is shown in Fig. 6.

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 Fig. 4. Tilted plane wavefront. (a)-(b) Four simultaneous phase shifted patterns (c) wrapped phase. (d) unwrapped phase.
Field of view 3mm x 3mm.

Fig. 5. Human Red Blood Cells. (a)-(b )Four simultaneous phase shifted patterns (c) wrapped phase. (d) unwrapped phase.

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 Fig. 6. Dynamic event. Representative frames. Scale 3mm x 3mm. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2568890.1

5. CONCLUSIONS
We have presented an interferometric system built using some salvaged optical components from spare computers
that allow us to measure phase maps of static transparent samples with a competitive quality. The system uses a 2D
grating constructed by overlapping two gratings to generate up to nine interferogram replicas. The implemented system
has the limitation of the size of the used components since the analyzed samples are of the order of 3 mm. Nevertheless,
it should be noted that the use of recycled elements are inexpensive and easily accessible for those laboratories with low
budgets. The presented system can be implemented for various applications in single shot polarizing phase shifting
interferometry and can be a very useful tool in optical metrology in different research and industrial areas.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
†This research is dedicated to the memory of our Marvelous colleague, Dr. Gustavo Rodríguez-Zurita, who recently
passed away. “Gustavo was always helping others simply because things should or had to be done, or because he felt it
was the right thing to do. Gustavo without any doubt will remain in our minds and hearts as a real superhero (SL).”
N. I. Toto-Arellano acknowledges the support provided by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT)
through project A1-S-20925, “Fondo Sectorial de Investigación para la Educación”.
According to COPE, Dr. V.H. Flores-Muñoz did not contribute substantially to the development of this work and only
participated in the phase processing of the work, that was paid for with the co-authorship for him on two JCR-papers
[10-11], for which we thank him for his collaboration in the processing of the optical-phases presented in this research.

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