Coherence scanning interferometry in CIE color spaces

This study presents the numerical reconstruction of surfaces using white light scanning interferometry (WLSI) by analyzing the behavior of the coherence signal in the <i>C</i><i>I</i><i>E</i><i>X</i><i>Y</i><i>Z</i>, <i>C</i><i>I</i><i>E</i><i>L</i><i>a</i><i>b</i>, and <i>C</i><i>I</i><i>E</i><i>L</i><i>u</i><i>v</i> color spaces. The description of the trajectory of the chromatic stimuli in these spaces enables the location of the zero-order interference fringe, and from this information, a height map can be reconstructed. High correlations were achieved in the reconstructed topographies in all cases. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the procedure is robust to the saturation of the red, green, and blue channels of a digital camera. This allows distinguishing details mainly in dark and low-contrast areas.