Optics and Lasers in Engineering 43 (2005) 1305–1314 Profile measurement of a one-dimensional phase boundary sample using a single shot phase-step method M. de Angelis a, , S. De Nicola a , P. Ferraro b , A. Finizio a , S. Grilli b , G. Pierattini a a Istituto di Cibernetica del CNR, via Campi Flegrei 34, Comprensorio ‘‘A. Olivetti’’, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy b Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata sez. di Napoli, via Campi Flegrei 34, Comprensorio ‘‘A. Olivetti’’, 80078 Pozzuoli (NA), Italy Received 16 September 2004; accepted 10 January 2005 Available online 17 March2005 Abstract Phase shifting interferometry is a preferred technique for high-resolution phase profile measurement, but the difficulty in generating the requested shifted pattern has limited the of the technique to low-noise environment and in case accurate calibration of the phase shifting device isavailable.In the presentexperiment, a sample having one-dimensional straight phase boundary is mounted in one arm of an interferometer. One single image of t fringe pattern is recorded, a simple image process is applied generating phase shifted patt from the original image.Using the appropriate phase shift algorithms, a phase map of the sample is obtained which gives a quantitative measurement of the topographical structure the resolution of the phase shift method but a single shot recorded pattern. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Optical measurement; Profile measurement; Image processing; Phase step method ARTICLE IN PRESS 0143-8166/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.optlaseng.2005.01.003 Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 081 867 5039; fax: +39 081 867 5128. E-mail address: marella.deangelis@na.infn.it (M. de Angelis).