Tilted wavefront coding system to eliminate the retroreflection with superior imaging property.

A novel anti-cat-eye effect imaging technique based on wavefront coding is proposed as a solution to the problem of previous anti-cat-eye effect imaging techniques where imaging quality was sacrificed to reduce the retroreflection from the photoelectric imaging equipment. With the application of the Fresnel–Kirchhoff diffraction theory, and the definition of generalized pupil function combining both phase modulation and defocus factors, the cat-eye echo formation of the wavefront coded imaging system is theoretically modeled. Based on the physical model, the diffracted spot profile distribution and the light intensity distribution on the observation plane are further simulated with the changes in the defocus parameter and the phase modulation coefficient. A verification test on the cat-eye laser echo power of the wavefront coded imaging system and that of the conventional imaging system at a 20 m distance are conducted, respectively. Simulations and experiment results show that compared with conventional imaging systems, the wavefront coding imaging system can reduce the retroreflection echo by two orders of magnitude while maintaining better imaging quality through defocusing.

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Wavefront coding extended the depth of field to a great extent with simpler structure compared to confocal microscope. With cubic phase mask (CPM) employed in the STOP of the objective lens, blurred images will be obtained in charge coupled device (CCD), which will be restored to sharp images by Wiener filter. We proposed that one CPM is used in one microscope although there are different objective lenses with different power indices. The microscope proposed here is the wavefront coding one when the CPM is used in the STOP; while it is the traditional one when a plane plate is used in the STOP. Firstly, make the STOP in the last surface of the lens, and then add a plane plate at the STOP with the same material and the same center thickness of the CPM. Traditional objective lenses are designed, based on which wavefront coding system will be designed with the plane plate replaced by a CPM. Secondly, the parameters of CPMs in different objective lenses are optimized to certain ranges based on metric function of stability of modulation transfer function (MTF). The optimal parameter is chosen from these ranges. A set of objective lenses is designed as an example with one CPM. The simulation results shows that the depth of field of 4X, 10X, 40X, 60X and 100X objective lenses with the same CPM can reach to 400um, 40um, 24um, 16um and 2um respectively, which is much larger than 55.5um, 8.5um, 1um, 0.4um and 0.19um of the traditional ones.

To study the effect of decentration and tilt of the type I Boston keratoprosthesis (KPro) on image quality in both aphakic and pseudophakic eyes. An optical ray-tracing program was used to simulate the image projected onto the retina in an eye with a perfectly centered KPro, and in eyes with varying degrees of KPro decentration and tilt. Decentration was modeled along a typical white-to-white distance of 12.0 mm, and the corresponding tilt was calculated assuming a radius of curvature of 8.0 mm, the radius of curvature of the backplate of the KPro. Both aphakic and pseudophakic eyes were simulated, and the corresponding modulation transfer function curves, point spread functions, and astigmatism were analyzed. The perfectly centered KPro produced a high-quality image with no induced astigmatism. Increasing decentration beyond approximately 0.5 mm resulted in poorer image quality with a more pronounced effect in the presence of an intraocular lens. Using models of the normal eye as a threshold, image degradation due to decentration becomes clinically significant at approximately 1.4 mm and 0.9 mm for the aphakic and pseudophakic cases, respectively. Astigmatism introduced by decentration is approximately 0.25 D cylinders at those thresholds. Decentration of up to 0.5 mm had no significant impact on image quality and an attempt at good intraoperative centration of the KPro within this range is important. Conversely, decentration of 0.9 mm or more during surgical implantation can result in significant degradation in retinal image quality including astigmatism. The effect is greater in the pseudophakic eye.

Spectacle lenses performance is simulated based on the eye model system. The modulation transfer function (MTF) curve of spherical lens, aspheric lens and optimized lens is analyzed, and the results are compared and analyzed non-curved lenses were found to be more effective in improving image quality. For free-form lenses, we measured the far-field, progressive corridor and near-field in the simulated optical system, and studied the relationship between the face matching angle and the tilt of the endoscope and the MTF of the conventional spectacle lens and the free-form lens. The experimental results show that when the face fitting angle and the inclination of the endoscope inclination increase, the MTF decreases and the imaging quality deteriorates. The tilt of the endoscope has the greatest influence on the MTF value, followed by the face fitting angle, where the influence of the spatial frequency is negligible, but as the spatial frequency increases, the MTF also decreases. Therefore, for the free-form surface, when the face fitting angle and the inclination of the endoscope are different, the image quality is easily affected, so these two factors must be fully considered in the design.

Wavefront coding technique can extend the depth of filed (DOF) of the incoherent imaging system. Several rectangular separable phase masks (such as cubic type, exponential type, logarithmic type, sinusoidal type, rational type, et al) have been proposed and discussed, because they can extend the DOF up to ten times of the DOF of ordinary imaging system. But according to the research on them, researchers have pointed out that the images are damaged by the artifacts, which usually come from the non-linear phase transfer function (PTF) differences between the PTF used in the image restoration filter and the PTF related to real imaging condition. In order to alleviate the image artifacts in imaging systems with wavefront coding, an optimization model based on the PTF was proposed to make the PTF invariance with the defocus. Thereafter, an image restoration filter based on the average PTF in the designed depth of field was introduced along with the PTF-based optimization. The combination of the optimization and the image restoration proposed can alleviate the artifacts, which was confirmed by the imaging simulation of spoke target. The cubic phase mask (CPM) and exponential phase mask (EPM) were discussed as example.

In order to analyze the impact of multisource vibration on the imaging quality of aerospace optical payload during camera scanning, a dynamic imaging quality degradation model fused with satellite vibration filter templates is established. Firstly, according to the motion scanning process of the TDI camera, a filter template combining the amplitude and frequency of the vibration source is designed; Secondly, a piecewise function of satellite vibration with a frequency range of 1 Hz to 1000 Hz is obtained by curve fitting, and the amplitudes of different frequency ranges are brought into the image filter template to simulate the output image affected by the vibration. Finally, the output degraded image is analyzed through structural similarity and mean square error. The simulation results show that during the imaging process of the aerospace scanning mirror, the line frequency of the camera changes regularly with the scanning speed. When platform vibration frequency is similar to the camera’s exposure frequency, it will have a large impact on image quality. Therefore, when the camera’s exposure frequency is 110 Hz, vibration at a frequency of 110 Hz will further degrade the image quality. This article is expected to provide guidance for spatial vibration suppression and image quality degradation assessment in the imaging process of aerospace scanning mirrors.

In the space limited infrared imaging system based MEMS, the adjustment of optical readout part is inconvenient. This paper proposed a method of wave-front coding to extend the depth of focus/field of the optical readout system, to solve the problem above, and to reduce the demanding for precision in processing and assemblage of the optical readout system itself as well. The wave-front coded imaging system consists of optical coding and digital decoding. By adding a CPM (Cubic Phase Mask) on the pupil plane, it becomes non-sensitive to defocussing within an extended range. The system has similar PSFs and almost equally blurred intermediate images can be obtained. Sharp images are supposed to be acquired based on image restoration algorithms, with the same PSF as a decoding core.We studied the conventional optical imaging system, which had the same optical performance with the wave-front coding one for comparing. Analogue imaging experiments were carried out. And one PSF was used as a simple direct inverse filter, for imaging restoration. Relatively sharp restored images were obtained. Comparatively, the analogue defocussing images of the conventional system were badly destroyed. Using the decrease of the MTF as a standard, we found the depth of focus/field of the wave-front coding system had been extended significantly.

Wavefront coding technology can extend the depth of field of the iris imaging system, but the iris image obtained through the system is coded and blurred and can't be used for the recognition algorithm directly. The paper presents a fuzzy iris image restoration method used in the wavefront coding system. After the restoration, the images can be used for the following processing. Firstly, the wavefront coded imaging system is simulated and the optical parameter is analyzed, through the simulation we can get the system's point spread function (PSF). Secondly, using the blurred iris image and PSF to do a blind restoration to estimate a appropriate PSFe. Finally, based on the return value PSFe of PSF, applying the regularization filter on the blurred image. Experimental results show that the proposed method is simple and has fast processing speed. Compared with the traditional restoration algorithms of Wiener filtering and Lucy-Richardson filtering, the recovery image that got through the regularization filtering is the most similar with the original iris image.

We are developing a method to objectively quantify image quality and applying it to the optimization of fast magnetic resonance imaging methods. In MRI, to capture the details of a dynamic process, it is critical to have both high temporal and spatial resolution. However, there is typically a trade-off between the two, making the sequence engineer choose to optimize imaging speed or spatial resolution. In response to this problem, a number of different fast MRI techniques have been proposed. To evaluate different fast MRI techniques quantitatively, we use a perceptual difference model (PDM) that incorporates various components of the human visual system. The PDM was validated using subjective image quality ratings by naive observers and task-based measures as defined by radiologists. Using the PDM, we investigated the effects of various imaging parameters on image quality and quantified the degradation due to novel imaging techniques including keyhole, keyhole Dixon fat suppression, and spiral imaging. Results have provided significant information about imaging time versus quality tradeoffs aiding the MR sequence engineer. The PDM has been shown to be an objective tool for measuring image quality and can be used to determine the optimal methodology for various imaging applications.

Computed tomography (CT) is a valuable imaging modality for pulmonary imaging. Fast acquisition times and sharp cross-sectional images guarantee high diagnostic confidence. With the introduction of low-dose CT, it has been established as standard for lung screening of heavy smokers in many countries around the world. However, at some point the limits for dose reduction with conventional CT are reached and further reduction would suffer from poor image quality. Sparsesampling CT is one technology that would allow a further radiation dose reduction by reducing the number of acquired projection images. Recently, the feasibility of a fast pulsing X-ray tube for CT has been demonstrated, indicating that sparse sampling could become available in future generations of CT scanners. Therefore, we investigated the effect of sparse sampling by a stepwise reduction of the projection images. A lung phantom with synthetic pulmonary nodules was scanned with a clinical CT system. Sparse sampling was simulated by removing projection images prior to reconstruction. The phantom was scanned at the iso-center and at the highest possible table position (off-center). The modulation transfer function (MTF) was determined for different degrees of sparse sampling. Image quality was evaluated by comparing the reduced dose simulations against the full dose image using the structural similarity index (SSIM). MTF was stable down to using 1/4th of the projection images (4-times sparse sampling, SpS-4) with high degradation at the off-center position (full sampling (FS) 10% MTF, iso-center: 0.64; off-center: 0.47). SSIM indicates a small image quality degradation of FS images compared to sparse-sampling images at low radiation doses at the iso-center (35 mAs; FS: 0.91; SpS-4: 0.93) and stronger degradations at the off-center position (35 mAs; FS: 0.65; SpS-4: 0.84). In conclusion, sparse sampling provides stable MTF results down to 1/4th of the projection images. At low dose levels (iso-center: ≤43 mAs; off-center: ≤86 mAs), sparse sampling performs better in terms of SSIM compared to FS.

Background: Guidelines for SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) traditionally recommend a fixed tracer dose. Yet, clinical practice shows degraded image quality in heavier patients. The aim was to optimize and validate the tracer dose and scan time to obtain a constant image quality less dependent on patients' physical characteristics. Methods: 125 patients underwent Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT)-SPECT stress MPI using a fixed Tc-99m-tetrofosmin tracer dose. Image quality was scored by three physicians on a 4-point grading scale and related to the number of photon counts normalized to tracer dose and scan time. Counts were correlated with various patient-specific parameters dealing with patient size and weight to find the best predicting parameter. From these data, a formula to provide constant image quality was derived, and subsequently tested in 92 new patients. Results: Degradation in image quality and photon counts was observed for heavier patients for all patients' specific parameters (p<0.01). We found body weight to be the best-predicting parameter for image quality and derived a new dose formula. After applying this new body weight-depended tracer dose and scan time in a new group, image quality was found to be constant (p>0.19) in all patients. Conclusions: Also in CZT SPECT image quality decreases with weight. The use of a tracer dose and scan time that depends linearly on patient's body weight corrected for the varying image quality in CZT-SPECT MPI. This leads to better radiation exposure justification.

Wavefront coding (WFC) is used to extend the field depth of an incoherent optical system by employing a phase mask on the pupil. We uses a Fisher information (FI) metric based optimization method to design a phase mask by taking the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the practical optical system into consideration. This method can modulate the wavefront so that the point spread function and optical transfer function are insensitive to the object distance. The simulation results show that the optimized phase mask based on the proposed method can further improve the defocusing image quality while maintaining the focusing image quality.

PurposeTo assess the impact of prostate MRI image quality by means of the Prostate Imaging Quality (PI-QUAL) score, on the identification of extraprostatic extension of disease (EPE), predicted using the EPE Grade Score, Likert Scale Score (LSS) and a clinical nomogram (MSKCCn). MethodsWe retrospectively included 105 patients with multiparametric prostate MRI prior to prostatectomy. Two radiologists evaluated image quality using PI-QUAL (≥4 was considered high quality) in consensus. All cases were also scored using the EPE Grade, the LSS, and the MSKCCn (dichotomized). Inter-rater reproducibility for each score was also assessed. Accuracy was calculated for the entire population and by image quality, considering two thresholds for EPE Grade (≥2 and = 3) and LSS (≥3 and ≥ 4) and using McNemar’s test for comparison. ResultsOverall, 66 scans achieved high quality. The accuracy of EPE Grade ranged from 0.695 to 0.743, while LSS achieved values between 0.705 and 0.733. Overall sensitivity for the radiological scores (range = 0.235–0.529) was low irrespective of the PI-QUAL score, while specificity was higher (0.775–0.986). The MSKCCn achieved an AUC of 0.76, outperforming EPE Grade (=3 threshold) in studies with suboptimal image quality (0.821 vs 0.564, p = 0.016). EPE Grade (=3 threshold) accuracy was also better in high image quality studies (0.849 vs 0.564, p = 0.001). Reproducibility was good to excellent overall (95 % Confidence Interval range = 0.782–0.924). ConclusionAssessing image quality by means of PI-QUAL is helpful in the evaluation of EPE, as a scan of low quality makes its performance drop compared to clinical staging tools.

For the image quality analysis of photogrammetrical systems using the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), the edge gradient analysis (EGA), using a Hanning function, and the grating pattern method are compared. Artificial edge and grating patterns were photographed from an airplane and were analyzed to determine the quality of the photogrammetric system. The pictures were scanned with a microdensitometer. For comparison with the artificial patterns, a natural roof edge was examined. Good agreement of all MTF measurements was found. Furthermore, the resolution found from MTF curves agreed well with the resolution obtained from three-bar targets. Generally, the MTF curves obtained from patterns in the flight direction were lower than the MTF's perpendicular to the flight direction due to airplane movement. The influence of linear image motion and its compensation was examined and is discussed. N PHOTOGRAMMETRY the image quality of photographs is of great importance. With digital image processing the image quality can be improved under certain conditions. Flight con­ ditions usually lead to reduced image quality (Holdermann, 1976). The optical transfer function (OTF) and especially the modula­ tion transfer function (MTF) are useful techniques for measuring the image quality of photographs. The MTF is the result of -the contributions of the links in the image transfer forming chain, namely, the camera, the film, image motion (in systems without forward motion compensation, FMC), vibrations, and the at­ mosphere (Tiziani, 1977). Artificial or natural edges are used for the edge gradient analysis (EGA), and varying spatial frequency patterns are used for the grating pattern technique. The aim of this paper is to compare both methods and to test their reliability. Results are shown and discussed. Furthermore, the influence of linear image mo­ tion on image quality is examined.