Optical Microsphere Nano-Imaging:Progress and Challenges

The optical diffraction effect imposes a radical obstacle preventing conventional optical microscopes from achieving an imaging resolution beyond the Abbe diffraction limit and thereby restricting their usage in a multitude of nanoscale applications.Over the past decade,the optical microsphere nanoimaging technique has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective solution for overcoming the diffraction limit and has achieved an imaging resolution of up to about k6k8 in a real-time and label-free manner,making it highly competitive among numerous super-resolution imaging technologies.In this review,we summarize the underlying nano-imaging mechanisms of the microsphere nanoscope and key advancements aimed at imaging performance enhancement:first,to change the working environment or modify the peripheral hardware of a single microsphere nanoscope at the system level;second,to compose the microsphere compound lens;and third,to engineer the geometry or ingredients of microspheres.We also analyze challenges yet to be overcome in optical microsphere nano-imaging,followed by an outlook of this technique.

Near-field multiple super-resolution imaging from Mikaelian lens to generalized Maxwell's fish-eye lens

Super-resolution imaging is vital for optical applications, such as high capacity information transmission, real-time bio-molecular imaging, and nanolithography. In recent years, technologies and methods of super-resolution imaging have attracted much attention. Different kinds of novel lenses, from the superlens to the super-oscillatory lens, have been designed and fabricated to break through the diffraction limit. However, the effect of the super-resolution imaging in these lenses is not satisfactory due to intrinsic loss, aberration, large sidebands, and so on. Moreover, these lenses also cannot realize multiple super-resolution imaging. In this research, we introduce the solid immersion mechanism to Mikaelian lens(ML) for multiple super-resolution imaging. The effect is robust and valid for broadband frequencies. Based on conformal transformation optics as a bridge linking the solid immersion ML and generalized Maxwell's fish-eye lens(GMFEL), we also discovered the effect of multiple super-resolution imaging in the solid immersion GMFEL.

The Flipping-Free Full-Parallax Tabletop Integral Imaging with Enhanced Viewing Angle Based on Space-Multiplexed Voxel Screen and Compound Lens Array

Tabletop integral imaging display with a more realistic and immersive experience has always been a hot spot in three-dimensional imaging technology,widely used in biomedical imaging and visualization to enhance medical diagnosis.However,the traditional structural characteristics of integral imaging display inevitably introduce the flipping effect outside the effective viewing angle.Here,a full-parallax tabletop integral imaging display without the flipping effect based on space-multiplexed voxel screen and compound lens array is demonstrated,and two holographic functional screens with different parameters are optically designed and fabricated.To eliminate the flipping effect in the reconstruction process,the space-multiplexed voxel screen consisting of a projector array and the holographic functional screen is presented to constrain light beams passing through the corresponding lens.To greatly promote imaging quality within the viewing area,the aspherical structure of the compound lens is optimized to balance the aberrations.It cooperates with the holographic functional screen to modulate the light field spatial distribution.Compared with the simulation results,the distortion rate of the imaging display is reduced to less than 9%from more than 30%.In the experiment,the floating high-quality reconstructed three-dimensional image without the flipping effect can be observed with the correct 3D perception at 96°×96°viewing angle,where 44,100 viewpoints are employed.

Vault predicting after implantable collamer lens implantation using random forest network based on different features in ultrasound biomicroscopy images

AIM:To analyze ultrasound biomicroscopy(UBM)images using random forest network to find new features to make predictions about vault after implantable collamer lens(ICL)implantation.METHODS:A total of 450 UBM images were collected from the Lixiang Eye Hospital to provide the patient’s preoperative parameters as well as the vault of the ICL after implantation.The vault was set as the prediction target,and the input elements were mainly ciliary sulcus shape parameters,which included 6 angular parameters,2 area parameters,and 2 parameters,distance between ciliary sulci,and anterior chamber height.A random forest regression model was applied to predict the vault,with the number of base estimators(n_estimators)of 2000,the maximum tree depth(max_depth)of 17,the number of tree features(max_features)of Auto,and the random state(random_state)of 40.0.RESULTS:Among the parameters selected in this study,the distance between ciliary sulci had a greater importance proportion,reaching 52%before parameter optimization is performed,and other features had less influence,with an importance proportion of about 5%.The importance of the distance between the ciliary sulci increased to 53% after parameter optimization,and the importance of angle 3 and area 1 increased to 5% and 8%respectively,while the importance of the other parameters remained unchanged,and the distance between the ciliary sulci was considered the most important feature.Other features,although they accounted for a relatively small proportion,also had an impact on the vault prediction.After parameter optimization,the best prediction results were obtained,with a predicted mean value of 763.688μm and an actual mean value of 776.9304μm.The R²was 0.4456 and the root mean square error was 201.5166.CONCLUSION:A study based on UBM images using random forest network can be performed for prediction of the vault after ICL implantation and can provide some reference for ICL size selection.

An acoustic Maxwell's fish-eye lens based on gradient-index metamaterials

We have proposed a two-dimensional acoustic Maxwell’s fish-eye lens by using the gradient-index metamaterials with space-coiling units. By adjusting the structural parameters of the units, the refractive index can be gradually varied, which is key role to design the acoustic fish-eye lens. As predicted by ray trajectories on a virtual sphere, the proposed lens has the capability to focus the acoustic wave irradiated from a point source at the surface of the lens on the diametrically opposite side of the lens. The broadband and low loss performance is further demonstrated for the lens. The proposed acoustic fish-eye lens is expected to have the potential applications in directional acoustic coupler or coherent ultrasonic imaging.

Large aperture phase-coded diffractive lens for achromatic and 16°field-of-view imaging with high efficiency

Diffractive lenses(DLs)can realize high-resolution imaging with light weight and compact size.Conventional DLs suffer large chromatic and off-axis aberrations,which significantly limits their practical applications.Although many achromatic methods have been proposed,most of them are used for designing small aperture DLs,which have low diffraction efficiencies.In the designing of diffractive achromatic lenses,increasing the aperture and improving the diffraction efficiency have become two of the most important design issues.Here,a novel phase-coded diffractive lens(PCDL)for achromatic imaging with a large aperture and high efficiency is proposed and demonstrated experimentally,and it also possesses wide field-of-view(FOV)imaging at the same time.The phase distribution of the conventional phase-type diffractive lens(DL)is coded with a cubic function to expand both the working bandwidth and the FOV of conventional DL.The proposed phase-type DL is fabricated by using the laser direct writing of grey-scale patterns for a PCDL of a diameter of 10 mm,a focal length of 100 mm,and a cubic phase coding parameter of 30π.Experimental results show that the working bandwidth and the FOV of the PCDL respectively reach 50 nm and 16°with over 8%focusing efficiency,which are in significant contrast to the counterparts of conventional DL and in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.This work provides a novel way for implementing the achromatic,wide FOV,and high-efficiency imaging with large aperture DL.

Design of Quasi-Optical Lens Antenna for W-Band Short Range Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging

A quasi-optical dielectric lens used for W-band focal plane array passive imaging has been developed. The imaging system requires the lens to form beam spot with 3 dB width less than 35 mm at distance of 3500 mm. The powerful optical design software ZEMAX was utilized to design the contours of the lens, and numerical method based on ray tracing and Huygens’ Principle was processed to verify the design result. Measurement result shows that the 3 dB width of the beam spot formed by the lens is 34 mm at distance of 3460 mm, and the beam pattern on imaging plane are equally arranged and the intensity decreases only 0.55 dB while the object lateral deviation increases to 300 mm.

Integral imaging-based tabletop light field 3D display with large viewing angle

Light field 3D display technology is considered a revolutionary technology to address the critical visual fatigue issues in the existing 3D displays.Tabletop light field 3D display provides a brand-new display form that satisfies multi-user shared viewing and collaborative works,and it is poised to become a potential alternative to the traditional wall and portable display forms.However,a large radial viewing angle and correct radial perspective and parallax are still out of reach for most current tabletop light field 3D displays due to the limited amount of spatial information.To address the viewing angle and perspective issues,a novel integral imaging-based tabletop light field 3D display with a simple flat-panel structure is proposed and developed by applying a compound lens array,two spliced 8K liquid crystal display panels,and a light shaping diffuser screen.The compound lens array is designed to be composed of multiple three-piece compound lens units by employing a reverse design scheme,which greatly extends the radial viewing angle in the case of a limited amount of spatial information and balances other important 3D display parameters.The proposed display has a radial viewing angle of 68.7°in a large display size of 43.5 inches,which is larger than the conventional tabletop light field 3D displays.The radial perspective and parallax are correct,and high-resolution 3D images can be reproduced in large radial viewing positions.We envision that this proposed display opens up possibility for redefining the display forms of consumer electronics.

Fish-Eye Image Distortion Correction Based on Adaptive Partition Fitting

The acquisition of images with a fish-eye lens can cause serious image distortion because of the short focal length of the lens.As a result,it is difficult to use the obtained image information.To make use of the effective information in the image,these distorted imagesmust first be corrected into the perspective of projection images in accordance with the human eye’s observation abilities.To solve this problem,this study presents an adaptive classification fitting method for fish-eye image correction.The degree of distortion in the image is represented by the difference value of the distances fromthe distorted point and undistorted point to the center of the image.The target points selected in the image are classified by the difference value.In the areas classified by different distortion differences,different parameter curves were used for fitting and correction.The algorithm was verified through experiments.The results showed that this method has a substantial correction effect on fish-eye images taken by different fish-eye lenses.

Image registration of the human accommodating eye demonstrates equivalent increases in lens equatorial radius and central thickness

AIM: To compare the results of in vivo human high resolution image registration studies of the eye during accommodation to the predictions of mathematical and finite element models of accommodation. METHODS: Data from published high quality image registration studies of pilocarpine induced accommodative changes of equatorial lens radius(ELR) and central lens thickness(CLT) were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The mean changes in ELR and CLT were 6.76 μm/diopter and 6.51 μm/diopter, respectively. The linear regressions, reflecting the association between ELR and accommodative amplitude(AAELR) was: slope=6.58 μm/diopter, r^2=0.98, P<0.0001 and between CLT and AACLT was: slope=6.75 μm/diopter, r^2=0.83, P<0.001. On the basis of these relationships, the CLT slope and the AAELR were used to predict the measured change in ELR(ELRpredicted). There was no statistical difference between ELRpredicted and the measured ELR as demonstrated by a Student's paired t-test: P=0.96 and linear regression analysis: slope=0.97, r^2=0.98, P<0.00001.CONCLUSION: Image registration with invariant positional references demonstrates that ELR and CLT equivalently minimally increase ~7.0 μm/diopter during accommodation. The small equivalent increases in ELRand CLT are associated with a large accommodative amplitude. These findings are consistent with the predictions of mathematical and finite element models that specified the stiffness of the lens nucleus is the same or greater than the lens cortex and that accommodation involves a small force(<5 g).

Moving Objects Detection Using Intersecting Cortical Model in Enhanced Fish-eye Image

A new method of the moving objects detection using the enhanced fish-eye lens and the intersecting cortical model （ICM） algorithm is proposed. The improved fish-eye lens is designed through controlling the entrance pupils of the lens. This lens has an ultra field of view about 183 degrees, and can image an ellipse picture on the 4 ： 3 rectangular CCD surface, which increases the CCD utilization and the image resolution. The ICM is a model based on pulse coupled neural network（PCNN） which is espeeially designed for image processing. It is derived from several visual cortex models and is basically the intersection of these models. The theoretical foundation of the ICM is given. An improved ICM algorithm in which some parameters are modified is used to detect moving objects specially. The experiment indicated that moving objects can be detected reliably and efficiently using ICM algorithm from the elliptical fish-eye image. It can be used in the field of traffic monitoring and other security domains.

Wave Optics and Image Formation in Gravitational Lensing

We investigate image formations in gravitational lensing systems using wave optics. Applying the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction formula to waves scattered by a gravitational potential of a lens object, we demonstrate how images of source objects are obtained directly from wave functions without using a lens equation for gravitational lensing. As an example of image formation in gravitational lensing, images of a point source by a point mass gravitational lens are presented. These images reduce to those obtained by a ray tracing method in the geometric optics limit.

Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging on the EAST Tokamak

An upgraded electron cyclotron emission imaging （ECEI） system consisting of new optics lenses with necessary electronics for receiving and processing signals for two dimension （2D） ECEI diagnostics was installed on EAST. Hyperboloid lens were adopted in the new system to optimize the spatial resolutions. The mixers array of sixteen elements measured the plasma electron cyclotron emission at eight frequencies simultaneously, and the profiles of the electron temperature and its fluctuation in an area of 20 cm （vertical） × 6 cm （horizontal） could then be analyzed. Evolution of sawtooth precursor and crash in EAST was observed.

AN INVERSE DESIGN OF ELECTROSTATIC FOCUSING FIELD FOR ELECTROSTATIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGING

An inverse design of electrostatic focusing field for electrostatic and magneticimaging is investigated.Using the potential superimposition theorem of electrostatic field inmulti-electrode system,a mathematical model has been developed and an optimization methodhas been introduced into computation for designing the electrostatic focusing field of the imagingsystem.

Review of research on sonar imaging technology in China

Over the past 20 years,sonar imaging technology particularly for the high-technology sector has been a focus of research,in which many developed countries,especially those with coast lines,have been competing with each other.It has seen a rapid development with increasing widespread applications that has played an important and irreplaceable role in underwater exploration with great prospects for social,economic,scientific,and military benefits.The fundamental techniques underlying sonar imaging,including multi-beamforming,synthetic-aperture and inverse synthetic-aperture sonar,acoustic lensing,and acoustical holography,are described in this paper.This is followed by a comprehensive and systematic review on the advantages and disadvantages of these imaging techniques,applicability conditions,development trends,new ideas,new methods,and improvements in old methods over recent years with an emphasis on the situation in China,along with a bold and constructive prediction to some development characteristics of sonar imaging technology in the near future in China.The perspectives presented in this paper are offered with the idea of providing some degree of guidance and promotion of research on sonar imaging technology.

Effects of wave propagation anisotropy on the wave focusing by negative refractive sonic crystal flat lenses

In this study, wave propagation anisotropy in a triangular lattice crystal structure and its associated waveform shaping in a crystal structure are investigated theoretically. A directional variation in wave velocity inside a crystal structure is shown to cause bending wave envelopes. The authors report that a triangular lattice sonic crystal possesses six numbers of a high symmetry direction, which leads to a wave convergence caused by wave velocity anisotropy inside the crystal. However, two of them are utilized mostly in wave focusing by an acoustic fiat lens. Based on wave velocity anisotropy, the pseudo ideal imaging effect obtained in the second band of the flat lens is discussed.

Square Maxwell’s fish-eye lens for near-field broadband achromatic super-resolution imaging

Broadband super-resolution imaging is important in the optical field.To achieve super-resolution imaging,various lenses from a superlens to a solid immersion lens have been designed and fabricated in recent years.However,the imaging is unsatisfactory due to low work efficiency and narrow band.In this work,we propose a solid immersion square Maxwell's fish-eye lens,which realizes broadband(7-16 GHz)achromatic super-resolution imaging with full width at half-maximum around 0.2λ based on transformation optics at microwave frequencies.In addition,a super-resolution information transmission channel is also designed to realize long-distance multi-source super-resolution information transmission based on the super-resolution lens.With the development of 3D printing technology,the solid immersion Maxwell's fish-eye lens is expected to be fabricated in the high-frequency band.

Design of Large-aperture and Wide-band Optical Lens

The design of a large-aperture and wide-band optical lens for camera is presented. By utilizing the atmospheric window of infrared light, clear images can be achieved in the dark or poor visibility conditions. To use near-infrared and visible light to obtain images, the charge coupled device(CCD) is adopted as the image sensor of the lens with the center wavelength of 880 nm, which operates at the wavelength range from 400 nm to 1 000 nm. After calculating the parameters of optical lens, Sunnah type is selected as the initial structure. Through the optimization of optical design software ZEMAX, the lens obtains an excellent imaging performance. The modulation transfer function(MTF) can be more than 0.3 at the spatial frequency of 110 lp/mm, and the maximum distortion can be less than 0.1%.

Analysis of the Focusing Characteristics of Double Negative Binary Diffractive Lens

For a compact millimeter wave imaging system it is very important to design every component into small size, for the components in a millimeter wave system are usually much larger than those in an optical imaging system due to rela-tively long wave lengths. In this paper, we suggest a kind of binary diffractive lens (BDL) designed using double nega-tive materials (DNG) as the objective lens for a millimeter wave imaging system. The DNG-BDL has not only the ad-vantage of low profile but also small f number, which will be benefit for constructing a compact millimeter wave imaging system. Several DNG-BDL are designed and analyzed using the FDTD method. The numerical results of the focal plane field of the DNG-BDL are presented, which show that the DNG-BDL with small f number has relatively better focusing characteristic than that of a double positive BDL with same f number.

Ultrasound Imaging in Nuclear Reactors Cooled by Liquid Metals

In nuclear reactors cooled by liquid metals, ultrasound is the only type of field that allows obtaining images of the reactor cores and diagnostics of the integrity of the fuel assemblies. The article discusses the features of the practical realization of ultrasonic imaging systems based on phased arrays and offers an alternative solution of imaging on the basis of the acoustic lenses of refractive and diffraction types. Using lenses eliminates many of the technical and technological problems associated with the development of multi-element phased arrays. It is shown that lens systems allow using traditional methods of transformation of acoustic fields into the visible images by 2D piezo matrix and a more promising way of acoustooptical transformation based on coherent optical interferometry.