Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2016
Differential Interferometry (DI) combines high spectral and high spatial resolution. On non resolved objects, it yields the angular variation of the source photocenter as a function of wavelength which has been shown theoretically and experimentally to complement very usefully both interferometric and spectroscopic data in a large number of astrophysical problems. This paper presents the general characteristics of DI which are likely to allow improvements of the Doppler images of stellar surface structures as soon as interferometers with large apertures and baselines approaching 100 m are available.