Interferometry is a technique for reconstructing the profiles of phase objects. We present a novel interferometric setup for generating interferograms with doubled phase profile and enhanced contrast compared with the standard interferogram. The proposed system consists of a two-beam interferometer in which the reference and test waves are circularly polarized orthogonally to each other. They are superposed upon a bacteriorhodopsin film, creating a polarization grating that is distorted by the phase of the test object. This polarization pattern is read by a polarized He–Ne beam. We show analytically and experimentally that, when the zero diffraction order is removed, an interferogram with doubled phase profile and enhanced contrast is obtained.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

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