Abstract

The study of stone decay is of great importance in actions for the preservation of monuments. Many deterioration processes are accompanied by corresponding changes in the microstructure of the stone surface. Thus a quantitative method is required which is sensitive enough to detect the minute changes in the microtopography of the stone face. Optical solutions to this task utilize surface information obtained in a scattered-light speckle field. Surface changes are measured as changes of the according speckle pattern. To obtain a quantitative measure for the similarity of patterns an optical speckle correlation is performed.

© 1987 Optical Society of America