Thin infrared imaging systems through multichannel sampling.
The size of infrared camera systems can be reduced by collecting low-resolution images in parallel with multiple narrow-aperture lenses rather than collecting a single high-resolution image with one wide-aperture lens. We describe an infrared imaging system that uses a three-by-three lenslet array with an optical system length of 2.3 mm and achieves Rayleigh criteria resolution comparable with a conventional single-lens system with an optical system length of 26 mm. The high-resolution final image generated by this system is reconstructed from the low-resolution images gathered by each lenslet. This is accomplished using superresolution reconstruction algorithms based on linear and nonlinear interpolation algorithms. Two implementations of the ultrathin camera are demonstrated and their performances are compared with that of a conventional infrared camera.
Shankar
Mohan
M
Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. ms80@duke.edu
Willett
Rebecca
R
Pitsianis
Nikos
N
Schulz
Timothy
T
Gibbons
Robert
R
Te Kolste
Robert
R
Carriere
James
J
Chen
Caihua
C
Prather
Dennis
D
Brady
David
D