Weighted least-squares phase-unwrapping algorithm based on the orientation coherence for discontinuous optical phase patterns

Phase unwrapping is one of the key steps of optical interferogram analysis, among which phase discontinuity is still a challenge. In this paper, we propose a new weighted least-squares phase-unwrapping algorithm for discontinuous optical phase patterns. In the proposed algorithm, the orientation coherence is introduced to define the new weighting coefficient, which can accurately show the wrapped phase quality. According to our proposed algorithm, the new weighting coefficient has a good performance on distinguishing the continuous regions and the discontinuous regions in wrapped phase patterns. This advantage of our algorithm can ensure a more reliable unwrapped result for discontinuous optical phase patterns. We test the proposed algorithm on the computer-simulated speckle phase images and two experimentally obtained phase images, respectively, and compare them with the other five widely used methods. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of our new weighted least-squares phase-unwrapping algorithm.