Phase error analysis of clipped waveforms in surface topography measurement using projected fringes

Abstract When working with the method of projected fringes outside the optical laboratory one often encounters the problem of uncontrollable ambient light. This might cause saturation of the camera which in turn results in clipping of the fringes. Since standard theories describing phase-shifting techniques assume the projected fringes to be purely sinusoidal, such clipping will result in measurement error. In this paper a detailed analysis of this problem is given, and relations between phase errors, the amount of fringe clipping and the number of phase steps are found. Moreover, the phase difference between the clipped and the unclipped fringes is described. This investigation is based on Fourier- and phasor analysis.