Independent component analysis based two-step phase retrieval algorithm

Based on the independent component analysis (ICA), we achieve phase retrieval from two-frame phase-shifting interferograms with unknown phase shifts. First, we remove the background of interferogram with a Gaussian high-pass filter. Second, the background-removed interferograms are decomposed into a group of mutual independent components through performing the pixel position recombination of an interferogram. Third, the phase shifts and the measured phase can be retrieved with high accuracy from the ratio of independent components. Compared with the existing two-step phase retrieval algorithms, both the simulation calculation and experimental result show that the proposed ICA based two-step algorithm reveals the advantage in the accuracy improvement of phase retrieval.