Simultaneous multiplane imaging with a distorted diffraction grating

We describe a simple technique for simultaneously imaging multiple layers within an object field onto a single camera. The approach uses a binary diffraction grating in which the lines are distorted such that a different level of defocus is associated with each diffraction order. The design of the gratings is discussed, and their ability to image multiple object planes is validated experimentally. Extension of the technique for spherical-aberration correction is described, and it is shown how the gratings can be used as part of a wave-front-sensing system.     

Far-field optical superlens

Far-field optical lens resolution is fundamentally limited by diffraction, which typically is about half of the wavelength. This is due to the evanescent waves carrying small scale information from an object that fades away in the far field. A recently proposed superlens theory offers a new approach by surface excitation at the negative index medium. We introduce a far-field optical superlens (FSL) that is capable of imaging beyond the diffraction limit. The FSL significantly enhances the evanescent waves of an object and converts them into propagating waves that are measured in the far field. We show that a FSL can image a subwavelength object consisting of two 50 nm wide lines separated by 70 nm working at 377 nm wavelength. The optical FSL promises new potential for nanoscale imaging and lithography.     

Lensfree color imaging on a nanostructured chip using compressive decoding

We demonstrate subpixel level color imaging capability on a lensfree incoherent on-chip microscopy platform. By using a nanostructured substrate, the incoherent emission from the object plane is modulated to create a unique far-field diffraction pattern corresponding to each point at the object plane. These lensfree diffraction patterns are then sampled in the far-field using a color sensor-array, where the pixels have three different types of color filters at red, green, and blue (RGB) wavelengths. The recorded RGB diffraction patterns (for each point on the structured substrate) form a basis that can be used to rapidly reconstruct any arbitrary multicolor incoherent object distribution at subpixel resolution, using a compressive sampling algorithm. This lensfree computational imaging platform could be quite useful to create a compact fluorescent on-chip microscope that has color imaging capability.     

A super-oscillatory lens optical microscope for subwavelength imaging

The past decade has seen an intensive effort to achieve optical imaging resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Apart from the Pendry-Veselago negative index superlens, implementation of which in optics faces challenges of losses and as yet unattainable fabrication finesse, other super-resolution approaches necessitate the lens either to be in the near proximity of the object or manufactured on it, or work only for a narrow class of samples, such as intensely luminescent or sparse objects. Here we report a new super-resolution microscope for optical imaging that beats the diffraction limit of conventional instruments and the recently demonstrated near-field optical superlens and hyperlens. This non-invasive subwavelength imaging paradigm uses a binary amplitude mask for direct focusing of laser light into a subwavelength spot in the post-evanescent field by precisely tailoring the interference of a large number of beams diffracted from a nanostructured mask. The new technology, which--in principle--has no physical limits on resolution, could be universally used for imaging at any wavelength and does not depend on the luminescence of the object, which can be tens of micrometres away from the mask. It has been implemented as a straightforward modification of a conventional microscope showing resolution better than λ/6.     

On coherence in neutron imaging

The variety of imaging signals in neutron radiography and tomography became quite large compared to the pure absorption and scattering contrast in neutron radiographies and topographies in the early sixties or seventies of the last century. The diversity of absorption based techniques for neutron radiography and tomography is comparable to coherence based imaging techniques such as phase contrast, differential phase contrast, dark field imaging, diffraction enhanced contrast, refraction contrast, ultra small angle scattering contrast, grating interferometry and crystal interferometry, also the spin of the neutron was successfully used for imaging [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11] and [12]. We show which effects (total reflection, diffraction, refraction) contribute to e.g. a step boundary or a phase boundary. Taking this simple object, one can learn to understand the imaging procedure and what is displayed in a radiograph.     

Doppler encoded excitation pattern tomographic optical microscopy

Most far-field optical imaging systems rely on lenses and spatially resolved detection to probe distinct locations on the object. We describe and demonstrate a high-speed wide-field approach to imaging that instead measures the complex spatial Fourier transform of the object by detecting its spatially integrated response to dynamic acousto-optically synthesized structured illumination. Tomographic filtered backprojection is applied to reconstruct the object in two or three dimensions. This technique decouples depth of field and working distance from resolution, in contrast to conventional imaging, and can be used to image biological and synthetic structures in fluoresced or scattered light employing coherent or broadband illumination. We discuss the electronically programmable transfer function of the optical system and its implications for imaging dynamic processes. We also explore wide-field fluorescence imaging in scattering media by coherence gating. Finally, we present two-dimensional high-resolution tomographic image reconstructions in both scattered and fluoresced light demonstrating a thousandfold improvement in the depth of field compared to conventional lens-based microscopy.     

Cloaking and illusion of quantum imaging with entangled photon pairs

Quantum ghost imaging is a nonlocal imaging technique in which the image or diffraction pattern of an object illuminated by photon pairs can be observed through the correlation measurement. This study theoretically demonstrates the cloaking effect of such a quantum imaging. Quantum ghost imaging completely offsets two objects that are placed at proper positions in the interferometer. Furthermore, illusion of quantum imaging, where an object transforms into another object, has also been observed. This phenomenon can be understood by quantum interferences in the correlation measurement.     

Influence of multiple scattering on three-dimensional imaging with optical diffraction tomography

Optical diffraction tomography is an imaging technique that permits retrieval of the map of permittivity of an object from its scattered far field. Most reconstruction procedures assume that single scattering is dominant so that the scattered far field is linearly linked to the permittivity. In this work, we present a nonlinear inversion method and apply it to complex three-dimensional samples. We show that multiple scattering permits one to obtain a power of resolution beyond the classical limit imposed by the use of propagative incident and diffracted waves. Moreover, we stress that our imaging method is robust with respect to correlated and uncorrelated noise.     

High-resolution ab initio three-dimensional x-ray diffraction microscopy

Coherent x-ray diffraction microscopy is a method of imaging nonperiodic isolated objects at resolutions limited, in principle, by only the wavelength and largest scattering angles recorded. We demonstrate x-ray diffraction imaging with high resolution in all three dimensions, as determined by a quantitative analysis of the reconstructed volume images. These images are retrieved from the three-dimensional diffraction data using no a priori knowledge about the shape or composition of the object, which has never before been demonstrated on a nonperiodic object. We also construct two-dimensional images of thick objects with greatly increased depth of focus (without loss of transverse spatial resolution). These methods can be used to image biological and materials science samples at high resolution with x-ray undulator radiation and establishes the techniques to be used in atomic-resolution ultrafast imaging at x-ray free-electron laser sources.     

Diffractive electron imaging of nanoparticles on a substrate

The observation of the detailed atomic arrangement within nanostructures has previously required the use of an electron microscope for imaging. The development of diffractive (lensless) imaging in X-ray science and electron microscopy using ab initio phase retrieval provides a promising tool for nanostructural characterization. We show that it is possible experimentally to reconstruct the atomic-resolution complex image (exit-face wavefunction) of a small particle lying on a thin carbon substrate from its electron microdiffraction pattern alone. We use a modified iterative charge-flipping algorithm and an estimate of the complex substrate image is subtracted at each iteration. The diffraction pattern is recorded using a parallel beam with a diameter of approximately 50 nm, illuminating a gold nanoparticle of approximately 13.6 nm diameter. Prior knowledge of the boundary of the object is not required. The method has the advantage that the reconstructed exit-face wavefunction is free of the aberrations of the objective lens normally used in the microscope, whereas resolution is limited only by thermal vibration and noise.     

Phase-only encryption and watermarking based on phase-shifting interferometry

Generally, the reconstruction of an object image from its diffraction field requires both the amplitude and the phase information of this field. We systematically investigated the effects of using only the real part, the imaginary part, or the phase information of the diffraction field to reconstruct the original image for both the binary and the gray-level images. We show that the phase information can yield a better result of image retrieval than the real or imaginary part and that the recovered image from the phase information is satisfactory especially for binary input. On the basis of this idea, a new technique of image encryption and watermarking by use of only one delivered image-the phase map of the diffraction field of the original image-through double random-phase encoding is proposed and verified by computer simulations with phase-shifting interferometry. This method can greatly cut down the communication load and is suitable for Internet transmission.     

Correlated imaging with partially coherent light for remote sensing

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel integral and the theory of coherence of light field, we have investigated the correlated imaging by using the transverse normalized second-order intensity fluctuation correlation function with partially coherent light radiation. The imaging for a reflected object with relative long distance is determined by the feature of speckle-to-speckle correlation. By using the correlation function, we study the effects of imaging distance, the sizes of object lens and reference lens, the source’s transverse coherent width and its transverse size on the quality of correlated imaging. Numerical results show that the parameters of imaging system and the properties of partially coherent light source have significant influences on the imaging resolution and visibility. For an object lens with large enough diameter, the resolution is determined by the transverse coherent width of light source. On the contrary, it depends on the aperture of object lens. The magnification of the system depends only on the propagation distance. This speckle-to-speckle correlated imaging with unbalanced arms have potential applications in remote sensing due to its unique features.     

Optical design of interferometric telescopes with wide fields of view

The performance of wide-field multiple-aperture imaging systems is dominated by easily understood, low-order errors. Each aperture produces an individual image, each pair of apertures produces a set of fringes under a diffraction envelope, and the system bandwidth produces a coherence envelope. For wide-field imaging, each of these elements must be coincident in the image plane as the field angle changes. We explore the causes of image degradation, derive first-order rules for preserving image quality across field, and give an example design that enforces some of the rules to achieve a relatively wide-field interferometric imaging telescope.     

Ideal-observer computation in medical imaging with use of Markov-chain Monte Carlo techniques

The ideal observer sets an upper limit on the performance of an observer on a detection or classification task. The performance of the ideal observer can be used to optimize hardware components of imaging systems and also to determine another observer's relative performance in comparison with the best possible observer. The ideal observer employs complete knowledge of the statistics of the imaging system, including the noise and object variability. Thus computing the ideal observer for images (large-dimensional vectors) is burdensome without severely restricting the randomness in the imaging system, e.g., assuming a flat object. We present a method for computing the ideal-observer test statistic and performance by using Markov-chain Monte Carlo techniques when we have a well-characterized imaging system, knowledge of the noise statistics, and a stochastic object model. We demonstrate the method by comparing three different parallel-hole collimator imaging systems in simulation.     

Holographic imaging and interferometry with non-Bragg diffraction orders on volume and surface-relief gratings in lithium niobate and photo-thermoplastic materials

The recording of holographic volume and surface-relief gratings in a photorefractive crystal using a photo-thermoplastic (PTP) holographic camera with an image-bearing signal beam leads to the appearance of two Bragg and two or more non-Bragg diffracted beams that show the transformed images in each beam (rotation and angular amplification of images). Using this real-time mode of interferometry, the hologram is retrieved with a deformed object beam, resulting in the appearance of fringes with a proper phase shift in each of four diffracted beams. This one-shot (one-exposure) phase-shifting interferometry results in clarification of the object wave-front information (for example, from surface deformation) and solution of the sign ambiguity problem. This procedure demonstrates that high-resolution holographic imaging of the PTP holographic camera static deformations in the order of ～0.1?mm can be revealed on the diffusion reflection surface. In addition, it was demonstrated that using the PTP materials could achieve holographic recording and imaging through phase aberration, with the image appearing in the non-Bragg diffraction order.     

Optical synthetic aperture radar

A method is proposed for increasing the resolution of an object and overcoming the diffraction limit of an optical system installed on top of a moving imaging system, such as an airborne platform or satellite. The resolution improvement is obtained via a two-step process. First, three low resolution differently defocused images are captured and the optical phase is retrieved using an improved iterative Gershberg–Saxton based algorithm. The phase retrieval allows numerical back propagation of the field to the aperture plane. Second, the imaging system is shifted and the first step is repeated. The obtained optical fields at the aperture plane are combined and a synthetically increased lens aperture is generated along the direction of movement, yielding higher imaging resolution. The method resembles a well-known approach from the microwave regime called the synthetic aperture radar in which the antenna size is synthetically increased along the platform propagation direction. The proposed method is demonstrated via Matlab simulation as well as through laboratory experiment.     

Superresolution planar diffraction tomography through evanescent fields

We consider the problem of noninvasively locating objects buried in a layered medium such as land mines in the ground or objects concealed in a wall. In such environments, the transmitter(s) and receiver(s) are frequently within the near‐field region of the illuminating radiation. In these cases, the scattered evanescent field carries useful information on the scattering object. Conventional diffraction tomography techniques neglect, by their design, the evanescent field. Under near‐field conditions, they treat it as noise as opposed to valid data. If correctly incorporated into a reconstruction algorithm, the evanescent field, which carries high spatial frequency information, can be used to achieve resolution beyond the classical limit of λ/2, or “superresolution.” We build on the generalized holography theory presented by Langenberg to develop a planar diffraction tomography algorithm that incorporates evanescent field information to achieve superresolution. Our theory is based on a generalization of the Fourier transform, which allows for complex spatial frequencies in a manner similar to the Laplace transform. We specialize our model to the case of a two‐dimensional multimonostatic, wideband imaging system, and derive an extended resolution reconstruction procedure. We implement and apply our reconstruction to two data sets collected using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Micropower Impulse Radar (MIR). © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 12, 16–26, 2002     

Superresolved imaging in digital holography by superposition of tilted wavefronts

A technique based on superresolution by digital holographic microscopic imaging is presented. We used a two dimensional (2-D) vertical-cavity self-emitting laser (VCSEL) array as spherical-wave illumination sources. The method is defined in terms of an incoherent superposition of tilted wavefronts. The tilted spherical wave originating from the 2-D VCSEL elements illuminates the target in transmission mode to obtain a hologram in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration. Superresolved images of the input object above the common lens diffraction limit are generated by sequential recording of the individual holograms and numerical reconstruction of the image with the extended spatial frequency range. We have experimentally tested the approach for a microscope objective with an exact 2-D reconstruction image of the input object. The proposed approach has implementation advantages for applications in biological imaging or the microelectronic industry in which structured targets are being inspected.     

Partially Coherent Imaging of a Straight-edged Object Associated with Periodic Structures of Acoustically Modified Spatial Coherence

Abstract

Spatial coherence of laser light can be modified by a progressive ultrasonic wave. The resultant optical mutual intensity has lateral and longitudinal periodicities in the near field behind the ultrasonic cell. Over the near field the longitudinal periodicity is lost in any plane parallel to the output plane of the cell but the lateral periodicity still remains. Such a plane serves as an object plane for partially coherent imaging. The imaging characteristics of an edge object, depending on various ultrasonic parameters, are described. Ringing suppression and contrast enhancement occur satisfactorily in the image if the ultrasonic parameters are properly controlled. Theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results.