Phase measurement plays a crucial role in optical science and technology.A technique for fringe analysis,which is now known by the name of the Fourier transform method(FTM)or Fourier fringe analysis,was proposed and experimentally demonstrated in 1982.Since then,through nearly three decades of active participation of many scientists and engineers from all over the world,FTM has been critically analyzed,continuously improved and refined,and has created new areas of cross-disciplinary applications beyond its initial applications to optical interferometry and profilometry.The talk will give an overview of FTM,which is now used widely with still growing areas of applications.The focus will be placed on applications of FTM to the measurements of extreme physical phenomena,such as those involving ultra fast optical pulses,extremely small atomic displacements,and unconventional electron wave,X-ray and EUV interferometry,and shows how the advantages of FTM are exploited in these cutting edge application areas.The details of the subjects to be presented are also found in Proc.of SPIE 8011,(2011)80116S; AIP Conference Proceedings 1236,(2010); Appl.Opt.52,No 1,(2013)20-29.