Object Aperture Research Articles

Double-slit holography—a single-shot lensless imaging technique

In this study, we propose a new method for single-shot, high-resolution lensless imaging called double-slit holography. This technique combines the properties of in-line and off-axis holography in one single-shot measurement using the simplest double-slit device: a plate with two apertures. In double-slit holography, a plane wave illuminates the two apertures giving rise to two spherical waves. While diffraction of one spherical wave from a sample positioned behind the first aperture (the object aperture) provides the object wave, the other spherical wave diffracted from the second (reference) aperture provides the reference wave. The resulting interference pattern in the far-field (hologram) combines the properties of an in-line (or Gabor-type) hologram and an off-axis hologram due to the added reference wave from the second aperture. Both the object and reference waves have the same intensity, which ensures high contrast of the hologram. Due to the off-axis scheme, the amplitude and phase distributions of the sample can be directly reconstructed from the hologram, and the twin image can be easily separated. Due to the object wave being the same as in-line holography with a spherical wave, imaging at different magnifications is similarly done by simply adjusting the aperture-to-sample distance. The resolution of the reconstructed object is given by the numerical aperture of the optical setup and the diameter of the reference aperture. It is shown both by theory and simulations that the resolution of the reconstructed object depends on the diameter of the reference wave aperture but does not depend on the diameter of the object aperture. Light optical proof-of-concept experiments are provided. The proposed method can be particularly practical for X-rays, where optical elements such as beam splitters are not available and conventional off-axis holography schemes cannot be realised.

Astrometry with PRAIA

PRAIA – Package for the Reduction of Astronomical Images Automatically – is a suite of astrometric and photometric tasks designed to cope with huge amounts of heterogeneous observations with fast processing, no human intervention, minimum parameterization and yet maximum possible accuracy and precision. It is the main tool used to analyse astronomical observations by an international collaboration involving Brazilian, French and Spanish researchers under the Lucky Star umbrella for Solar System studies. In this paper, we focus on the astrometric concepts underneath PRAIA, used in reference system works, natural satellite and NEA astrometry for dynamical and ephemeris studies, and lately for the precise prediction of stellar occultations by planetary satellites, dwarf-planets, TNOs, Centaurs and Trojan asteroids. We highlight novelties developed by us and never reported before in the literature, which significantly enhance astrometry precision and automation. Such as the robust object detection and aperture characterization (BOIA), which explains the long standing empirical photometry/astrometry axiom that recommends using apertures with 2 – 3 σ (Gaussian width) radius. We give examples showing the astrometry performance, discuss the advantages of PRAIA over other astrometry packages and comment about future planed astrometry implementations. PRAIA codes and input files are publicly available for the first time at: https://ov.ufrj.br/en/PRAIA/. PRAIA astrometry is useful for Solar System as well as astrophysical observations.

Devising a method for determining the aperture brightness of an object using a typical shape of its image

The object of this study is the aperture brightness of the image of the object, which has a variety of typical shapes in the frames of the series. It directly depends on the stability of the shooting conditions of the objects under study. Thus, determining the exact aperture brightness of an object in the frame becomes more difficult. For this purpose, a method was devised for determining the aperture brightness of an object using the typical shape of its image on a series of frames. This method is based on the formation of a typical shape of a digital image of an object based on data from all frames of the series. The typical shape makes it possible to take into account the peculiarities of the formation of the image of the object on each frame of the series. Based on this, a more accurate estimate of the initial approximation of the parameters of all Gaussian images of the object is performed. In addition, the adaptation of the method to the standard shape makes it possible to perform a more accurate assessment of the aperture brightness of the object in comparison with the analytically defined profile. An estimate of the aperture brightness of the object was derived using the least squares method. Due to minimization using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, the use of the method improved identification with reference objects and reduced the number of false positives. The study showed a decrease in the standard deviation of frame identification errors by 5–7 times when using a typical shape of a digital image. The devised method for determining an object's aperture brightness using its image's typical shape was tested in practice within the framework of the CoLiTec project. It was implemented in the intra-frame processing unit of the CoLiTecVS software for the automated construction of brilliance curves of the studied variable stars. Owing to the use of the CoLiTecVS software and the proposed computational method implemented in it, more than 700,000 measurements of various objects under study were successfully processed and identified

Quantum metrology with multimode Gaussian states of multiple point sources

A unified theoretical framework is developed for measuring multimode Gaussian states of multiple point sources. The spatial and temporal mode functions are found analytically by aid of the circular symmetry of the object plane and aperture, as well as by the rectangular spectral density function of the background. They relate the modal operators and statistical moments to the locations of the point sources through the prolate spheroidal functions. An experimentally straightforward implementation is proposed, which consists of a nonabsorptive polarization- and phase-modulating spatial light modulator (SLM), three lenses, and a polarization beam splitter. Interestingly, it is found that the spatial modal annihilation operators are related to the modal field operators in the image plane by a simple complex-valued scale factor. The quantum Fisher information matrix and quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound (QCRB) are also discussed. The numerical calculation of QCRB is completed for the case where the spatially multimode aperture fields are prepared by the spatial propagation from temporally single-mode thermal states, coherent states, or quadrature squeezed states of the point sources in the object plane. The results show that the Rayleigh limit can always be surpassed by means of increasing the mean photon rate or the squeeze parameter.

Low‐diffraction transparent micro light‐emitting diode displays with optimized pixel structure

AbstractTransparent displays suffer from background image blur due to light diffraction when passing through periodic pixel structures. A simple, reference‐image free and semi‐analytical model based on diffraction theory and human eye's angular resolution is proposed to quantitatively evaluate the diffraction effect of transparent displays. Several factors including object distance, resolution and aperture ratio are analyzed with our model to establish guidelines for minimizing the diffraction effect in transparent displays. By optimizing the pixel structures within a 2 × 2‐pixel size region, the relative diffraction intensity is reduced by 42% at the 50% aperture ratio regardless of pixel density, which is valuable for achieving diffraction‐less high resolution and low aperture ratio transparent displays with current fabrication technologies.

Chromatic properties of astigmatic eyes

Background: Chromatic differences in power, refractive compensation, position and magnification have been described in the literature for Gaussian eyes. Aim: This article explores these definitions and defines chromatic properties for eyes that have astigmatic and decentred or tilted elements. Setting: Linear optics. Methods: The optical model is linear optics and makes use of the ray transference T . Results: Results are presented as either 2 × 2 matrices or 2 × 1 vectors. The dependence of the chromatic properties on the position of an object and the limiting aperture is explored and results are presented as independent of, or dependent on, object and aperture position. Apertures undergo both longitudinal and transverse shifts in position. The results are general and apertures may include pupils or pinholes, either surgically inserted inside the eye or held in front of the eye. Numerical examples are provided for Le Grand’s four-surface eye and an arbitrary astigmatic heterocentric four-surface eye. Conclusion: Aperture-independent chromatic properties include chromatic difference in power and refractive compensation, both given as 2 × 2 matrices. Aperture-dependent chromatic properties are all dependent on longitudinal shifts in the plane of the limiting aperture. In addition, chromatic difference in position and inclination depend on both object and transverse aperture position. Chromatic difference in image size or angular spread depends on object position and is independent of transverse aperture position. These four aperture-dependent chromatic properties are given as 2 × 1 vectors. Chromatic magnifications are independent of object and transverse aperture position and are given as 2 × 2 matrices.

The new confocal heavy ion microprobe beamline at ANSTO: The first microprobe resolution tests and applications for elemental imaging and analysis

The Centre for Accelerator Science facility at ANSTO has been expanded with the new NEC 6MV “SIRIUS” accelerator system in 2015. In this paper we present a detailed description of the new nuclear microprobe–Confocal Heavy Ion Micro-Probe (CHIMP) together with results of the microprobe resolution testing and the elemental analysis performed on typical samples of mineral ore deposits and hyper-accumulating plants regularly measured at ANSTO.The CHIMP focusing and scanning systems are based on the OM-150 Oxford quadrupole triplet and the OM-26 separated scan-coil doublet configurations. A maximum ion rigidity of 38.9amu-MeV was determined for the following nuclear microprobe configuration: the distance from object aperture to collimating slits of 5890mm, the working distance of 165mm and the lens bore diameter of 11mm. The overall distance from the object to the image plane is 7138mm.The CHIMP beamline has been tested with the 3MeV H+ and 6MeV He2+ ion beams. The settings of the object and collimating apertures have been optimized using the WinTRAX simulation code for calculation of the optimum acceptance settings in order to obtain the highest possible ion current for beam spot sizes of 1μm and 5μm. For optimized aperture settings of the CHIMP the beam brightness was measured to be ∼0.9pAμm−2mrad−2 for 3MeV H+ ions, while the brightness of ∼0.4pAμm−2mrad−2 was measured for 6MeV He2+ ions. The smallest beam sizes were achieved using a microbeam with reduced particle rate of 1000Hz passing through the object slit apertures several micrometers wide. Under these conditions a spatial resolution of ∼0.6μm×1.5μm for 3MeV H+ and ∼1.8μm×1.8μm for 6MeV He2+ microbeams in horizontal (and vertical) dimension has been achieved. The beam sizes were verified using STIM imaging on 2000 and 1000mesh Cu electron microscope grids.

Size constancy in bat biosonar? Perceptual interaction of object aperture and distance.

Perception and encoding of object size is an important feature of sensory systems. In the visual system object size is encoded by the visual angle (visual aperture) on the retina, but the aperture depends on the distance of the object. As object distance is not unambiguously encoded in the visual system, higher computational mechanisms are needed. This phenomenon is termed “size constancy”. It is assumed to reflect an automatic re-scaling of visual aperture with perceived object distance. Recently, it was found that in echolocating bats, the ‘sonar aperture’, i.e., the range of angles from which sound is reflected from an object back to the bat, is unambiguously perceived and neurally encoded. Moreover, it is well known that object distance is accurately perceived and explicitly encoded in bat sonar. Here, we addressed size constancy in bat biosonar, recruiting virtual-object techniques. Bats of the species Phyllostomus discolor learned to discriminate two simple virtual objects that only differed in sonar aperture. Upon successful discrimination, test trials were randomly interspersed using virtual objects that differed in both aperture and distance. It was tested whether the bats spontaneously assigned absolute width information to these objects by combining distance and aperture. The results showed that while the isolated perceptual cues encoding object width, aperture, and distance were all perceptually well resolved by the bats, the animals did not assign absolute width information to the test objects. This lack of sonar size constancy may result from the bats relying on different modalities to extract size information at different distances. Alternatively, it is conceivable that familiarity with a behaviorally relevant, conspicuous object is required for sonar size constancy, as it has been argued for visual size constancy. Based on the current data, it appears that size constancy is not necessarily an essential feature of sonar perception in bats.

Size constancy in bat biosonar

Perception and encoding of object is an important feature of sensory systems. In the visual system object is encoded by the visual angle (visual aperture) on the retina, but the aperture depends on the distance of the object. As object distance is not unambiguously encoded in the visual system, higher computational mechanisms are needed. This phenomenon is termed size It is assumed to reflect an automatic re-scaling of visual aperture with perceived object distance. Recently, it was found that in echolocating bats, the 'sonar aperture', i.e., the range of angles from which sound is reflected from an object back to the bat, is unambiguously perceived and neurally encoded. Moreover, it is well known that object distance is accurately perceived and explicitly encoded in bat sonar. Here, we addressed constancy in bat biosonar, recruiting virtual-object techniques. Bats of the species Phyllostomus discolor learned to discriminate two simple virtual objects that only differed in sonar aperture. Upon successful discrimination, test trials were randomly interspersed using virtual objects that differed in both aperture and distance. It was tested whether the bats spontaneously assigned absolute width information to these objects by combining distance and aperture. The results showed that while the isolated perceptual cues encoding object width, aperture, and distance were all perceptually well resolved by the bats, the animals did not assign absolute width information to the test objects. This lack of sonar constancy may result from the bats relying on different modalities to extract information at different distances. Alternatively, it is conceivable that familiarity with a behaviorally relevant, conspicuous object is required for sonar constancy, as it has been argued for visual constancy. Based on the current data, it appears that constancy is not necessarily an essential feature of sonar perception in bats.

Object Image Reconstruction by Using Trajectory Doppler Signal in the Process of Monochromatic Probing and Circular Aperture Synthesis of Antenna

The paper gives a detailed overview of the algorithm of image reconstruction by using trajectory Doppler signal on the circular motion of the locator and the circular aperture synthesis. The monochromatic signal is considered. The offered method of reconstruction is non-projection one. In contrast to projection method it works equally well both in the near-field and far-field regions relative to the object aperture. Results of the model image reconstruction of single-point and three-point objects are represented. The interference on structures of reconstructed image and structures of ring spectra is shown.

Non-approximate method for designing annular field of two-mirror concentric system

Annular field aberrations of a three-reflection concentric system, which are composed of two spherical mirrors, are analyzed. An annular field with a high level of aberration correction exists near the position where the principal ray is perpendicular to the object-image plane. Aberrations are determined by the object height and aperture angle. In this letter, the general expression of the system aberration is derived using the geometric method, and the non-approximate design method is proposed to calculate the radii of the annular fields that have minimum aberrations under different aperture angles. The closer to 0.5 (the ratio of the radius of convex mirror to the radius of concave mirror) is, the smaller the system aberration is. The examples analyzed by LABVIEW indicate that the annular field designed by the proposed method has the smallest aberration in a given system.

Experimental color encryption in a joint transform correlator architecture

We present an experimental color image encryption by using a photorefractive crystal and a joint transform correlator (JTC) architecture. We achieve the color storing by changing the illumination wavelength. One JTC aperture has the input image information corresponding to a determined color channel bonded to a random phase mask (object aperture), and the other JTC aperture contains the key code mask. The joint power spectrum is stored in a photorefractive crystal. Each color data is stored as a modulation of birefringence in this photosensitive medium. The adequate wavelength change produces a corresponding power spectrum modification that avoids image encryption cross talk in the read out step. An analysis in terms of the sensitivity of the photorefractive silenite crystal for different recording wavelengths is carried out. It should be highlighted that the multiplexed power spectrum shows neither the multiplexing operation nor the amount of stored information increasing the system security. We present experimental results that support our approach

The use of the Wien filter to eliminate object slit scattering in MeV ion nanobeam systems

One of the fundamental limitations in the performance of MeV ion microbeam focusing systems is the effect of ion scattering at the edges of the object aperture. As the aperture is reduced in the search for smaller spot sizes, the fraction of scattered to unscattered beam increases. The scattered beam contains lower energy particles which can be transmitted through the system to create a halo of over-focused particles surrounding the final image. Removal of this halo is critical to achieving small spot sizes, especially in single ion applications. In this paper, we discuss the use of a Wien filter (crossed magnetic and electrostatic fields) to deflect the reduced energy scattered particles and ensure that only ions with the correct energy are accepted into the lens. This paper reviews the beam optics of Wien filter systems and presents calculations of the parameters required to obtain useful energy dispersion.

Magnetic imaging with soft x-ray spectroholography

We present recent advances in imaging magnetic nanostructures via lensless holographic x-ray techniques. In addition to the tunable energy and polarization this method also uses the coherent photon flux that is now available at third generation synchrotron radiation sources. Our spectroscopic imaging technique is based on the direct Fourier inversion of a holographically formed interference pattern, thus we refer to it as spectroholography. By exploiting the magnetic dichroism in resonance at the L3 absorption edges of the magnetic transition metals (wavelength of ∼1–2nm and energy of ∼700–900eV), images of magnetic nanostructures have been obtained with a spatial resolution below 50nm. Using Si3N4-membrane substrates we combine in our experimental setup the sample itself rigidly with the holographic mask structure consisting of an 800nm gold layer with a micronsized object aperture and a nanosized reference hole on the backside of the membrane. Such a compact implementation leaves plenty of space for installing extreme sample environments such as high magnetic fields and low temperatures that are difficult to combine with conventional x-ray imaging techniques based on focusing optics.

Implementing the IBar Camera Widget

We present the implementation of a new widget, the IBar, for controlling all aspects of a perspective camera. This widget provides an intuitive interface for controlling the perspective distortion in the scene by providing single handles that manipulate one or more projection parameters simultaneously (e.g., distanceto- object and lens aperture) in order to create a single perceived projection change (increasing the perspective distortion without changing the scene size).

Maximum likelihood estimation in calibrating a stereo camera setup.

Motion and deformation of the cardiac wall may be measured by following the positions of implanted radiopaque markers in three dimensions, using two x-ray cameras simultaneously. Regularly, calibration of the position measurement system is obtained by registration of the images of a calibration object, containing 10-20 radiopaque markers at known positions. Unfortunately, an accidental change of the position of a camera after calibration requires complete recalibration. Alternatively, redundant information in the measured image positions of stereo pairs can be used for calibration. Thus, a separate calibration procedure can be avoided. In the current study a model is developed that describes the geometry of the camera setup by five dimensionless parameters. Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimates of these parameters were obtained in an error analysis. It is shown that the ML estimates can be found by application of a nonlinear least squares procedure. Compared to the standard unweighted least squares procedure, the ML method resulted in more accurate estimates without noticeable bias. The accuracy of the ML method was investigated in relation to the object aperture. The reconstruction problem appeared well conditioned as long as the object aperture is larger than 0.1 rad. The angle between the two viewing directions appeared to be the parameter that was most likely to cause major inaccuracies in the reconstruction of the 3-D positions of the markers. Hence, attempts to improve the robustness of the method should primarily focus on reduction of the error in this parameter.

Dilute aperture diffraction imagery and object reconstruction: II. Deterministic aberrations

Replacement of a large continuum by a set of appropriately placed small subapertures offers a number of advantages if the object being viewed can be reconstructed reasonably accurately from the subaperture diffraction imagery. A previous paper was devoted to this problem and numerical calculations were carried out for the aberration-free situation. In the present paper, we extend the numerical calculations to determine the influence of deterministic wavefront aberration on the efficiency of object reconstruction in the presence of measurement noise. Our calculations seem to indicate that moderate amounts of wavefront aberrations do not appear to affect the inversion.

Multiple beam ion channeling patterns

This paper describes the production and uses of “multiple beam” ion channeling patterns generated using a nuclear microprobe. Multiple beams are produced by splitting a single 3 MeV proton beam, diverging from the object aperture, into two or more beams with different trajectories. All the beams are incident on the surface of a 0.3 μm thick [100] silicon crystal and produce superposed channeling patterns. Multiple beam patterns produced with the quadrupole lenses of the nuclear microprobe switched both off and on are shown, and the relationship between the different contrast observed under these two conditions is described. Multiple beam patterns are used to understand recent results showing channeling patterns produced through thin, rotated crystal bilayers and strained layers.

Small-area depth profiling in a quadrupole based SIMS instrument

The dynamic range, the erosion rate and the depth resolution achievable in small-area SIMS depth profiling has been studied using the quadrupole based ion microprobe ATOMIKA 4000. It was found that for a given object aperture of the oxygen or cesium ion gun the beam diameter is essentially independent of the beam energy (1.5–12 keV). Most of the results presented here relate to primary ion beams with a diameter between 25 and 30 μm. Dynamic ranges up to 10 6 were obtained with δ-doped and ion-implanted samples at raster sizes between 140 and 160 μm, even at the lowest beam energies. The excellent instrument performance was used to determine the energy dependence of the decay length for germanium in silicon. High speed depth profiling of thick layers or deep concentration distributions could be achieved with oxygen primary ions at 12 keV, in which case the mean current density in the raster scanned area was up to 3.5 mA cm −2. The advantages of small-area depth profiling are also illustrated for vacuum-sensitive impurities like carbon and oxygen, analyzed under cesium bombardment.

Two‐Photon “Ghost” Image and Interference‐Diffractiona

One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is entanglement of two or more distance particles. The two-particle entangled state was mathematically formulated by Schrodinger. Based on this unusual quantum behavior, EPR defined their 'physical reality' and then asked the question: 'Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?' One may not appreciate EPR's criterion of physical reality and insist that 'no elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a recorded phenomenon'. Optical spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is the most effective mechanism to generate an EPR type entangled two-photon state. In SPDC, an optical beam, called the pump, is incident on a birefringent crystal. The pump is intense enough so that nonlinear effects lead to the conversion of pump photons into pairs of photons, historically called signal and idler. Technically, the SPDC is said to be type-1 or type-2, depending on whether the signal and idler beams have parallel or orthogonal polarization. The SPDC conversion efficiency is typically on the order of 10(exp -9) to 10(exp -11), depending on the SPDC nonlinear material. The signal and idler intensities are extremely low, only single photon detection devices can register them. The quantum entanglement nature of SPDC has been demonstrated in EPR-Bohm experiments and Bell's inequality measurements. The following two experiments were recently performed in our laboratory, which are more closely related to the original 1935 EPR gedankenezperiment. The first experiment is a two-photon optical imaging type experiment, which has been named 'ghost image' by the physics community. The signal and idler beams of SPDC are sent in different directions, so that the detection of the signal and idler photons can be performed by two distant photon counting detectors. An aperture object (mask) is placed in front of the signal photon detector and illuminated by the signal beam through a convex lens. Surprisingly, an image of this aperture is observed in the idler beam, by scanning the idler photon detector in the transverse plane of the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal, which can be easily performed by a coincidence measurement. This effect is even more striking when we found that the object-lens-image relationship satisfies the Gaussian thin lens equation. The second experiment demonstrates two-photon 'ghost' interference-diffraction. The experimental set up is similar to the image experiment, except that rather than a lens and an aperture it is a Young's double-slit (or a single-slit) inserted into the path of the signal beam. We could not find any interference (or diffraction) pattern behind the slit. Surprisingly, an interference (or diffraction) pattern is observed when scanning the detector in the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal.