Robust Two-Step phase estimation using the Simplified Lissajous Ellipse Fitting method with Gabor Filter Banks preprocessing

Abstract: We present the Simplified Lissajous Ellipse Fitting (SLEF) method for the calculation of the random phase step and the phase distribution from two phase-shifted interferograms. We consider interferograms with spatial and temporal dependency of background intensities, amplitude modulations and noise. Given these problems, the use of the Gabor Filters Bank (GFB) allows us to filter--out the noise, normalize the amplitude and eliminate the background. The normalized patterns permit to implement the SLEF algorithm, which is based on reducing the number of estimated coefficients of the ellipse equation, from five terms to only two. Our method consists of three stages. First, we preprocess the interferograms with GFB methodology in order to normalize the fringe patterns. Second, we calculate the phase step by using the proposed SLEF technique and third, we estimate the phase distribution using a two--steps formula. For the calculation of the phase step, we present two alternatives: the use of the Least Squares (LS) method to approximate the values of the coefficients and, in order to improve the LS estimation, a robust estimation based on the Leclerc's potential. The SLEF method's performance is evaluated through synthetic and experimental data to demonstrate its feasibility.