Switchable FoV infrared imaging system using micro-lens arrays

Abstract

Infrared imaging provides invisible infrared pictures beyond that of normal human vision. However, common infrared imaging systems are incapable of capturing dynamical phenomena with high resolution and a wide field of view (FoV). The proposed modality purposefully selects the incident light with various instantaneous viewing angles and eventually combine them in different temporal sequences to form a larger FoV image, thus allowing one single cooled focal plane arrays to detect an area that appreciably exceeds what is possible with conventional counterparts. The primary principles of the 3.5 $\sim$∼ 5 $\mu$μm imaging system involve contracting and splitting the FoV with the optical wedges and switching the splitted FoV using the micro-lens arrays, which are realized with the secondary imaging structure. In this technique, the entire FoVs are enlarged from 15$^\mathrm{o}$o to 30$^\mathrm{o}$o both in 2-D and 3-D modality when the resolutions keep at 49 lp/mm. Proof-of-concept results demonstrate significantly our mid-infrared imaging modality performs high-quality images in the FoV of -15$^\mathrm{o}$o to 15$^\mathrm{o}$o. The present article has brought us a new class of wide FoV imaging configurations that permit the capture of moving objects in large area, which also preserves the high resolution.