Spatial and temporal phase-measurement techniques: a comparison of major error sources in one dimension

Spatial and temporal phase-measurement interferometry techniques are affected by a number of sources of error. This paper focuses on the influence of major error sources on the results of phase calculations using the most popular algorithms. These error sources include phase-shifter miscalibration for N-frame temporal methods and its equivalent of the wrong carrier frequency in N-point spatial techniques and detector nonlinearities. Other errors considered are detector nonlinearities and leakage in the Fourier-transform method. Computer simulations in one dimension with straight, equally spaced fringes reveal the character and magnitude of these errors.