Principles of surface-phase-resolved shearography

There is a need to remotely measure the full phase and amplitude information of small-scale acousto-seismic vibrations in order to detect the presence of buried objects (e.g., tunnels, etc.), or for other purposes. This remote sensing information may need to be collected with a large area coverage rate and at a safe standoff distance. To accomplish this, we have implemented a shearographic imaging system that incorporates phase stepping in a novel way, automatically separating random speckle noise from surface motion, without requiring an intermediate unwrapping step. This method, which we call surface-phase-resolved shearography, is especially effective for very low-amplitude motions that generate less than one light-wavelength of phase change. In laboratory studies, we have demonstrated sensitivity of two nanometers RMS with 532-nm-wavelength light.