Improved noise-immune phase-unwrapping algorithm.

An algorithm for unwrapping noisy phase maps has recently been proposed, based on the identification of discontinuity sources that mark the start or end of a 2π phase discontinuity. Branch cuts between sources act as barriers to unwrapping, resulting in a unique phase map that is independent of the unwrapping route. We investigate four methods for optimizing the placement of the cuts. A modified nearest neighbor approach is found to be the most successful and can reliably unwrap unfiltered speckle-interferometry phase maps with discontinuity source densities of 0.05 sources pixel(-1).