Ultra-miniature Lensless Computational Imagers and Sensors

We describe a new class of computational optical sensors and imagers that do not rely on traditional refractive or reflective focusing but instead on special diffractive optical elements integrated with CMOS photodiode arrays. The diffractive elements have provably optimal optical properties essential for imaging, and act as a visual chirp and preserve full Fourier image information on the photodiode arrays. Images are not captured, as in traditional imaging systems, but rather computed from raw photodiode signals. Because such imagers forgo the use of lenses, they can be made unprecedentedly small -- as small as the cross-section of a human hair. Such imagers have extended depth of field, from roughly 1mm to infinity, and should find use in numerous applications, from endoscopy to infra-red and surveillance imaging and more. Furthermore, the gratings and signal processing can be tailored to specific applications from visual motion estimation to barcode reading and more.

David G. Stork - Rambus Labs

11/14/2013

[ericpa]

I found this lecture very interesting . I don't know if I understood right, but basically lensless cameras could, for instance, capture camera in "all the ways possible", and by that I referring: for instance, today, if you want to record something, depending of the desirable look that you want for your image, you will use different lens, for instance, maybe you'll use a fisheye lens.

Basically, my question is if this sort of sensor could record a image is various ways, ways in which nowadays we need very different lens to each of one of them.

[JorgeGamaliel]

Awesome!. PicoCam for Smart Dust and lot of civil applications. Nanotechnology and its applications. :D

[ajtrvll]

A digital photograph can easily be doctored with Photoshop.  Could the raw diffraction patterns serve to prove the authenticity of a computed photograph? i.e. a computed photograph with embedded metadata of the diffraction patterns would be far more reliable than a digital image, no?