Noise reduction in phase maps with 2π phase jumps by means of the heat equation

A new algorithm for filtering noise in phase maps that contain 2p discontinuities is presented. The algorithm is based on a thermal model that uses the heat equation to perform low-pass filtering. A similar approach is used in image processing for filtering noise, but the edges are generally distorted because of their inherent high frequencies. A solution that consists in redefining the spatial derivatives is proposed here. Simulation results are presented and discussed.