Phase unwrapping using an extrapolation-projection algorithm.
We explore an approach to the unwrapping of two-dimensional phase functions using a robust extrapolation-projection algorithm. Phase unwrapping is essential for imaging systems that construct the image from phase information. Unlike some existing methods where unwrapping is performed locally on a pixel-by-pixel basis, this work approaches the unwrapping problem from a global point of view. The unwrapping is done iteratively by a modification of the Gerchberg-Papoulis extrapolation algorithm, and the solution is refined by projecting onto the available global data at each iteration. Robustness of the algorithm is demonstrated through its performance in a noisy environment, and in comparison with a least-squares algorithm well-known in the literature.