Computational imaging using lightweight diffractive-refractive optics.

Yifan Peng,Qiang Fu,Hadi Amata,Wolfgang Heidrich,Felix Heide,Shuochen Su

doi:10.1364/oe.23.031393

Abstract

Diffractive optical elements (DOE) show great promise for imaging optics that are thinner and more lightweight than conventional refractive lenses while preserving their light efficiency. Unfortunately, severe spectral dispersion currently limits the use of DOEs in consumer-level lens design. In this article, we jointly design lightweight diffractive-refractive optics and post-processing algorithms to enable imaging under white light illumination. Using the Fresnel lens as a general platform, we show three phase-plate designs, including a super-thin stacked plate design, a diffractive-refractive-hybrid lens, and a phase coded-aperture lens. Combined with cross-channel deconvolution algorithm, both spherical and chromatic aberrations are corrected. Experimental results indicate that using our computational imaging approach, diffractive-refractive optics is an alternative candidate to build light efficient and thin optics for white light imaging.

Highlights

Modern photography needs an efficient light acquisition procedure, in which high quality lens design is key
The main technical contributions include: We propose a white light computational photography method using diffractive-refractive optics to design lenses with thin structures at a controllable cost
In the fabrication of Diffractive optical elements (DOE), either continuous or discrete surface profiles are optional if different manufacture methods are adopted [28, 29]

Summary

Introduction

Modern photography needs an efficient light acquisition procedure, in which high quality lens design is key. The revolution from film-based to digital photography and steadily increasing processing power in the capturing devices have enabled many computational imaging applications. This computational imaging technology has, in turn, created a demand for new and flexible lens systems [1]. Designing an excellent digital imaging device requires consideration of multi-dimensional factors, such as light acquisition efficiency, material cost, size, design flexibility, and computational complexity. A common approach to handling the imperfections of optical systems is to remove the remaining optical aberrations in a post-capture deconvolution step

Results

Discussion

Conclusion