Co-linear common-path shearography with a zero-approaching shear amount and separate control of the spatial carrier for single-shot phase measurement.

A co-linear common-path shearography is proposed with spatial phase shift for single-shot phase measurement. The co-linear common-path configuration brings an enhanced robustness and stability of the measuring system, because the two laterally sheared interfering object waves propagate essentially along the same path, which cancels out the disturbance and noise in surroundings. Two functional features, which break through the limitations in conventional co-linear common-path shearography, are proposed and implemented, namely the zero-approaching shear amount and the separate control of the spatial carrier. Seldom shearography configured by co-linear common-path structure possesses with these two features, because the linearly aligned optics restricts the control parameters in regards to the shear amount and the spatial carrier. In the proposed scheme, an intermediate real image plane is created in the linearly aligned light path to address the issue of zero-approaching shear amount. A 4-f imaging system is embedded with an aperture in between to implement a separate control of the spatial carrier. The zero-approaching shear amount provides the sufficiently small shear to make sure the strain or slope field of complex deformation is resolvable. Meanwhile, the separate control of the spatial carrier further guarantees a well-distributed spatial frequency spectrum when the required zero-approaching shear amount is configured.

Super-compact shearography based on a single diffractive optical element with 3-in-1 phase mask.

This Letter communicates a new, to the best of our knowledge, designing framework of shearography. The three elementary functional parts of quantitative shearography, namely imaging, shearing, and phase shifting, are integrated into a single diffractive optical element (DOE), named a 3-in-1 phase mask. The idea breaks through the conventional designing routine of shearography, and converts it from the combination of individual optical elements to the spatial manipulation of phase. The slicing, splicing, and alternating strategy is proposed to generate the 3-in-1 phase mask from a given number of sequenced Fresnel lenses and a modified echelle grating. The operating component is merely a DOE, which renders the optics naturally coaxial. The delivered shearography system enjoys a super-compact configuration, a high level of robustness and stability, and the potential for implementing outside optics laboratories. Crucial system parameters, e.g., shear amount, shear direction, working distance, can be readily shifted on call by re-making the 3-in-1 phase mask. The future of the present idea is in its shape and seems promising with lithography, micromachining, and metasurfaces.