Holographic Interferometry: From History to Modern Applications

Abstract Holographic interferometry is one of the most useful applications of holography. It allows measurement of the phase of an object or a scene, which evolves over time. In particular, it can measure the phase variations resulting from surface displacements or deformations of solids, the shape of objects or variations of refractive index in transparent media, to name of few. At the beginning of holography history, the tremendous potentialities of holographic interferometry were immediately recognized for industrial applications. This generated a lot of researches and developments, which encompasses the ways of recording holograms (through photosensitive materials and later through electronic recording) and the way to interpret the fringe pattern returned by the methods in a variety of situations. This chapter aims at reviewing the different periods of history of holographic interferometry, from the pioneering experiments to the latest achievements, some having led to marketed systems with commercial successes.