Plane wave imager with synthetic aperture capability

摘要

Plane Wave Imagers (PWI) directly sense the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic waves and do not require a lens to image a scene. PWI's can also be used in the exit pupil of an afocal lens. PWI's are implemented in CMOS using silicon waveguide technology. Since the wavelength of light ranges from less than one to tens of microns, PWI's fabricated on silicon are essentially flat plates, making a PWI a thin and light structure. A CMOS PWI can operate in the visible, near infrared, short wave infrared, and mid wave thermal spectral bands. Benefits of using a PWI include the ability to achieve large optical aperture performance by digitally processing the outputs of multiple small aperture PWI's that are not necessarily precisely optically aligned. Enhanced scene resolution can be obtained by collecting imagery from several adjacent positions and then digitally combining the digital data into one large dataset.