Hologram interferometry: carrier fringes
Diana Tentori and David Salazar
The sensitivity of the interferometric techniques to longitudinal variations of the optical path can be
increased by introducing carrier fringes. A new method for introducing such fringes is presented.
Introduction
In an aligned object beam hologram interferometer
used for the study of phase objects (Fig. 1), the lower
detection limit for longitudinal variations corresponds
to an optical path difference (OPD) of -X. The intro-
duction of carrier fringes makes it possible to observe
lower optical path differences.
Several geometries have been used to produce carri-
er fringes in hologram interferometry. 1 2, Neverthe-
less, in many cases these fringes are not desirable since
the tilt introduced to generate these fringes may pro-
duce the comparison of noncorresponding sections of
the object wave front under comparison. The high
coherence of light sources used for holography makes it
possible to obtain fringes of good visibility under such
conditions. When this problem is present the results
may include noise caused by imperfections introduced
by the optical components.
If a diffuser plate is introduced within the optical
arrangement, Young fringes can be produced by later-
ally displacing it. The shape and the position of these
fringes have been reported in the literature.3 4
The role of a diffusing surface in holographic inter-
ferometry has also been discussed.5 In this case, the
spatial coherence is lost because of the random phase
introduced by the diffuser. The regions under com-
parison correspond just to homologous points, i.e., the
same point on the diffuser before and after the lateral
displacement takes place. The resulting interfero-
The authors are with the Departamento de Optica y Fisica Apli-
cada, Centro de Investigaci6n Cientifica y de Educaci6n Superior de
Ensenada, B.C., Apartado Postal 2732, Ensenada, Baja California,
M6xico.
Received 5 September 1989
0003-6935/91/355157-02$05.00/0.
© 1991 Optical Society of America.
10 December 1991 / Vol. 30, No. 35 / APPLIED OPTICS
gram preserves the information related to the phase
change between the two object wave fronts under com-
parison.
This limitation on the regions that contribute to
forming the interference pattern has an additional
advantage: it allowsone to calculate the tolerances on
the quality of the optical components. Quantification
of the fabrication tolerances of optical elements and
samples makes it possible to avoid a poor signal-to-
noise ratio. In addition, when phase objects are stud-
ied the diffuser allowsthe observation of interference
fringes without an out-of-focus image of the point
source. 2
The conditions under which these fringes can be
used as carrier fringes, i.e., the conditions under which
they can be considered straight and equally spaced
fringes, are calculated by exact ray tracing.
Young Fringes as Carrier Fringes
In an interferometer used to analyze transparent ob-
jects, variations in the trajectory of a light ray traveling
through the specimen show up only as phase changes;
i.e., refraction is not a factor. OPD's are calculated by
taking into consideration the trajectory followed by a
ray from the light source to the observer, as shown in
Fig. 2. In this figure the origin of the coordinates is on
the plane of the diffuser plate. The position of point
P1 on the diffuser is given by (x, y, 0). Owing to the
presence of the diffuser plate, interference occurs only
between homologous points. The homologous point
of PI is represented by point P2 , and its position is
given by (x + Ax,y + by, z). The position of the light
source with respect to the origin of the coordinates is
represented by vector L; vectors L1 and L2 correspond
to the position of the light source with respect to points
P1 and P2 , respectively. The observer is located with
respect to the origin of coordinates in a position given
by vector R. Vectors R1 and R2 define the position of
the observer with respect to points P1 and P2 , respec-
tively. Using the parameters defined above, we find
the OPD between rays traveling through homologous
points:
5157
 Considering R >> d and d >>mX,the spacing between
consecutive fringes is given3 4 by the well-known rela-
w j l - l - - tion
L
Ax = RX/d. (5)
phase V This approximate relation predicts straight, equally
object D 1~~~~
spaced fringes. Nevertheless, the actual capability for
fringe interpolation makes it necessary to verify, using
exact ray tracing, the conditions under which the ge-
ometry of observation allows one to consider these
Fig. 1. Diagram of the optical setup used to study small variations fringes equally spaced. When these fringes are used as
on phase objects that introduce lateral displacement fringes as carri- carrier fringes, the variation of the fringe spacing from
er fringes. a fixed value limits the accuracy of the interferometer.
By using Eq. (4) it can be shown that, if an interpola-
tion of Ax/100 (corresponding to a sensitivity of X/100)
is desired, the distance between the diffuser plate and
light *`.
the viewing system must be approximately ten times
source
larger than xm,and the diffuser must be laterally dis-
placed a distance d of -15 ,gm. Appropriate working
parameters for different working conditions can be
obtained with the exact formula given in Eq. (4). The
tolerance in the fringe spacing variation limits the
lower detection value for the OPD.

hologram observer
Conclusions
\
Adequate carrier fringes for holographic interferome-
Fig. 2. Definition of parameters used to calculate the OPD in a try are obtained by laterally displacing a diffuser plate.
holographic interferometer for the study of phase objects. The
origin of the coordinates is located on the plane of the diffuser plate.
The use of exact ray tracing from the diffuser to the
observer allowsus to calculate the observation geome-
try required for specific values of interferometer sensi-
tivity to longitudinal variations of the optical path.
OPD= (L 2 -L,) + (R 2 -R), (1)
References
where L 2 , L1 R2 , and R are the absolute values of the 1. Y. I. Ostrovsky, M. M. Butusov, and G. V. Ostrovskaya, Interfer-
corresponding vectors. ometry by Holography (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1980), Chap.
If collimated light is used to illuminate the object, 3.
and a pure lateral displacement, x = d, along the x axis 2. S. C. Jahoda, R. A. Jeffries, and G. A. Sawyer, "Fractional fringe
is the only change made in the object beam, holographic plasma interferometry," Appl. Opt. 6, 1407-1414
(1967).
OPD = (x2 + 2dx + d2 + y2 + 2
)1/2- (x2 + y2 + 2 12
) . (2) 3. N. L. Hecht, J. E. Minardi, D. Lewis, and R. L. Fusek, "Quantita-
Bright fringes are obtained for tive theory for predicting fringe pattern formation in holographic
interferometry," Appl. Opt. 12, 2665-2667 (1973).
OPD = 2mX. (3) 4. H. K. Liu and R. L. Kurtz, "A practical method for holographic
interference fringe assessment," Opt. Eng. 16, 176-186 (1977).
Using Eqs. (2) and (3) and solving for x with y = 0, we 5. S. Lowenthal and H. H. Arsenault, "Image formation for coherent
find that the position of the mth bright fringe is diffuse objects: statistical properties,"J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60,1478-
1483 (1970).
2 m (d2+ 2 2/2) (4)

5158 APPLIED OPTICS / Vol. 30, No. 35 / 10 December 1991