Apparatus and techniques for enhanced resolution imaging
AssigneeIntegrity Applications Incorporated
InventorJames A. Georges, III
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are systems and methods for synthesizing a high resolution image associated with a large imaging aperture using an optical imaging apparatus having a smaller aperture. In certain implementations, introduction of a coherent homodyne reference beam to a coherent imaging of an object can result in formation of a Fourier space side lobe that includes information about a portion of a spectrum representative of the object's Fourier spectrum. Images can be obtained at a number of different orientations to yield a number of such side lobe images so as to allow construction of the object's spectrum. A synthesized image corresponding to such a constructed spectrum can have an improved resolution that exceeds the performance limit imposed by the aperture of the optical imaging apparatus.
Claims29
A method for imaging, the method comprising:
- forming a collective image, the forming comprising:
- providing an illumination beam to an object so as to yield interaction light resulting from interaction between the illumination beam and the object;
- directing at least some of the interaction light as an imaging beam to an imaging sensor so as to form an image of the object on the imaging sensor;
- and
- interfering at least a portion of the interaction light with a reference beam thereby forming an interference pattern imaged on the image sensor, the interference pattern combining with the image of the object at the imaging sensor to form the collective image having a Fourier transform that includes a side lobe in Fourier space, the side lobe having phase information about a range of the object's spatial frequencies;
- and
- repeating the forming at different orientations between the imaging beam and the object until a plurality of collective images are obtained, each of the collective images having a different range of the object's spatial frequency.
An imaging system, comprising:
- a coherent light source configured to generate an illumination beam;
- an optics assembly configured to deliver the illumination beam from the coherent light source to an object and to gather interaction light from interaction between the illumination beam and the object and form an image of the object;
- and
- an imaging sensor positioned and configured to allow recording of the image,
- wherein the optics assembly is further configured to provide a reference beam to the image sensor, the reference beam combining with the image of the object at the imaging sensor to form a collective image having a Fourier transform that includes a side lobe in Fourier space, the side lobe having phase information about a range of the object's spatial frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.