Abstract
The scaling limits of multi-aperture systems have been widely discussed from an information-theoretical standpoint. While these arguments are valid as an upper limit, the real-world performance of systems for mobile devices remains restricted by optical aberrations. We argue that aberrations can be more easily controlled with certain architectures of multi-aperture systems, especially those manufactured on wafer scale (wafer-level optics, WLO). We complement our analysis with measurements of one single- and one multi-aperture WLO camera. We examine both sharpness and sensitivity, giving measurements of modulation transfer function and temporal noise, and showing that multi-aperture systems can indeed reduce size without compromising performance.
Highlights
In multi-aperture optics, a single optical system is replaced by an array of optical channels side by side
We examine the balance of these two effects using the electronic cluster eye[2] as one example of a multi-aperture system
The electronic cluster eye (eCLEY) should have the same sensitivity as a single-aperture camera with the same aperture F3.7
Summary
In multi-aperture optics, a single optical system is replaced by an array of optical channels side by side. In a multi-aperture system, this relation can be broken up by interlacing the views of adjacent channels so that they supersample object space. The channel microimages are assembled digitally to obtain a continuous image. Using this principle, the system thickness can be reduced while keeping sampling of object space constant. We compare the MTF with a state-of-the-art single-aperture camera manufactured with wafer-level optics
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