Digitally scanned multi-cell electro-optic sensor

An electro-optic (EO) sensor, comprising:

• an objective optical system that forms an image within a field of view;
• a spatial light modulator comprising an array of addressable elements to independently and selectively attenuate optical radiation within different portions of the field;
• an optical focusing array comprising N optical focusing elements that decompose the field of view into N sub-fields where N is an integer greater than four, each said sub-field corresponding to a plurality of SLM addressable elements;
• a sub-field directing array that tilts the optical radiation from the optical focusing elements by four different and fixed tilt angles;
• a focusing optic in a substantially collimated space of the sub-field directing array that directs the tilted optical radiation to form four spatially separated sub-regions at a common image plane, each said sub-region substantially overlapping more than one said sub-field;
• and
• a quad-cell imaging detector positioned at or near the common image plane so that each said sub-region is mapped onto a different cell, each said cell comprising one or more pixel elements that convert incident optical radiation in the sub-region into an electrical signal, each said pixel element being mapped to a plurality of said spatial light modulator addressable elements for more than one said sub-field.

A method of electro-optic sensing, comprising:

• forming an image at a first image plane from optical radiation of an object within a field of view;
• at or near the first image plane, using a SLM having an array of addressable elements to independently and selectively attenuate optical radiation within different portions of said field of view;
• focusing the optical radiation with a plurality of optical focusing elements that map the field of view into at least four sub-fields;
• optically magnifying the optical radiation from each said sub-field by a magnification level;
• optically tilting the optical radiation from each said sub-field by a tilt angle, in a first tilt mode tilting the optical radiation by at least four different tilt angles across the field of view;
• focusing the optical radiation to a common image plane, in said first tilt mode directing the tilted optical radiation to form at least four spatially separated sub-regions at the common image plane, each said sub-region corresponding to one or more sub-fields;
• at or near the common image plane, detecting incident optical radiation with an imaging detector comprising pixel elements that convert the incident optical radiation into an electrical signal, each said detector pixel element being mapped to a plurality of SLM addressable elements;
• and
• setting the magnification levels so that the combined sub-regions map to the full extent of the imaging detector.