Real-time holographic nondestructive inspection system with automatic defect classification

We describe here a holographic non-destructive inspection (NDI) technology developed by Physical Optics Corporation. It is based on real-time holographic dye polymer materials and a shearographic camera, with neural network defect classification software. Holograms can be recorded in or erased from the new dye polymer material in a millisecond without wet processing, making real-time holographic NDI feasible. The shearographic NDI system, based on laser speckle interferometry, compensates for low-light conditions. Both holographic and shearographic fringes are input to the neural network system to perform automatic defect type classification.