Super-compact shearography based on a single diffractive optical element with 3-in-1 phase mask

Abstract

This Letter communicates a new, to the best of our knowledge, designing framework of shearography. The three elementary functional parts of quantitative shearography, namely imaging, shearing, and phase shifting, are integrated into a single diffractive optical element (DOE), named a 3-in-1 phase mask. The idea breaks through the conventional designing routine of shearography, and converts it from the combination of individual optical elements to the spatial manipulation of phase. The slicing, splicing, and alternating strategy is proposed to generate the 3-in-1 phase mask from a given number of sequenced Fresnel lenses and a modified echelle grating. The operating component is merely a DOE, which renders the optics naturally coaxial. The delivered shearography system enjoys a super-compact configuration, a high level of robustness and stability, and the potential for implementing outside optics laboratories. Crucial system parameters, e.g., shear amount, shear direction, working distance, can be readily shifted on call by re-making the 3-in-1 phase mask. The future of the present idea is in its shape and seems promising with lithography, micromachining, and metasurfaces.