Systematic and numerical errors in the propagation of digital speckle fields

Estimating the complex amplitude of a coherent monochromatic electromagnetic field is important in many imaging and speckle metrology applications. Both standard phase shifting interferometry technique as well as iterative phase retrieval algorithms are used to recover an estimate of the phase distribution. Errors in the estimated phase distribution arise from (i) systematic errors (noise, vibrations, etc. ) and (ii) numerical artifacts introduced by the discrete nature of numerical Fresnel propagation. Here, we examine how to minimize each of these noise sources. A brief conclusion is presented.