US 12,756,946 B2 · Class-specific diffractive camera with all-optical erasure of undesired objects

Abstract

A diffractive camera performs class-specific imaging of target objects with instantaneous all-optical erasure of other classes of objects. This diffractive camera includes transmissive surfaces structured using deep learning to perform selective imaging of target classes of objects positioned at its input field-of-view. After fabrication, the substrate layers collectively perform optical mode filtering to accurately form images of the objects that belong to a target data class or group of classes, while instantaneously erasing objects of the other data classes at the output field-of-view. In another embodiment, a class-specific permutation camera is disclosed where objects of a target data class are pixel-wise permuted for all-optical class-specific encryption, while the other objects are irreversibly erased from the output image. The diffractive camera can be scaled to different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to provide transformative opportunities for privacy-preserving digital cameras and task-specific data-efficient imaging.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A diffractive camera that captures images containing one or more target classes of objects while all-optically erasing and/or distorting one or more non-target classes of objects, the diffractive camera comprising:

a diffractive network that receives one or more input images or input optical fields at an input field-of-view, the diffractive network comprising one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers arranged in an optical path, each of the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers comprising a plurality of physical features formed on or within the one or more optically transmissive or reflective substrate layers and having different transmission and/or reflection properties as a function of the lateral coordinates across each substrate layer, wherein the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers and the plurality of physical features thereon collectively generate an output image that includes the one or more target classes of objects from the input images or input optical fields and substantially erases and/or distorts the one or more non-target classes of objects from the input images or input optical fields;
and
one or more optical image sensors or a plurality of photodetectors configured to capture the output image resulting from the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers;
and
wherein the output image is captured or digitized only if the one or more optical image sensors or the plurality of photodetectors detect an optical signal strength that is greater than a preset threshold level.

2 more elements

A diffractive camera that captures one or more linearly transformed images containing one or more target classes of objects while all-optically erasing and/or distorting the optical signals corresponding to one or more non-target classes of objects, the diffractive camera comprising:

a diffractive network that receives one or more input images or input optical fields at an input field-of-view, the diffractive network comprising one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers arranged in an optical path, each of the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers comprising a plurality of physical features formed on or within the one or more optically transmissive or reflective substrate layers and having different transmission and/or reflection properties as a function of the lateral coordinates across each substrate layer, wherein the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers and the plurality of physical features thereon collectively generate a linear transformation between pixels of the input images or input optical fields at the input field-of-view and pixels of an output field of view;
and
one or more optical image sensors or a plurality of photodetectors configured to capture a linearly transformed output image containing one or more target classes of objects while all-optically erasing and/or distorting the signals corresponding to the one or more non-target classes of objects resulting from the one or more optically transmissive and/or reflective substrate layers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Class-specific diffractive camera with all-optical erasure of undesired objects

Life of this patent

Class-specific diffractive camera with all-optical erasure of undesired objects

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27