Multiple passive element enriched photoacoustic computed tomography

Recently, we presented a method using laser-induced ultrasound from an external absorber (passive element) to image the ultrasound transmission parameters of an object under photoacoustic tomographic investigation. The method suffers from long measurement times due to the requirement for a large number of views and consequently physical projections around the object. Here we propose and validate an approach that permits a multitude of views to be obtained within a limited projection scenario. The approach uses a plurality of spatially distributed external absorbers in the path of the light, that results in multiple laser-induced ultrasound sources to interrogate the object from a number of angles. This reduces the required number of rotation angles or physical projections around the object, permitting a considerable reduction in imaging time without significant degradation in image quality. The approach brings the concept of hybrid imaging of ultrasound transmission parameters together with photoacoustic imaging, into the realm of practical application.     

Mojette变换层析技术中的投影角度布局方法

Mojette变换是一种最小冗余采样的离散Radon变换,能够用较少角度的投影数据进行精确的计算层析(computed tomography,CT)重建,为少量投影角度CT技术的实现提供了一种新思路.投影角度的空间布局决定了层析重建最少所需投影的数量.为了获得Mojette变换层析技术中的最优投影空间角度布局方案,本文对三维Mojette变换数学模型及其精确重建条件进行了研究.以此为基础,在考虑实际探测器像素数目受限的条件下,提出了确定最优投影角度的方法.研究结果表明:所有探测器围绕被测物体在同一水平面内进行平行投影采集是最优的投影角度布局方案,此时投影模型为二维Mojette变换,所需的投影角度和探测器像素数最少,投影角度范围最小;若在实际的测量中该投影条件无法满足,则投影矢量中|pi|和|qi|的值越小越好.该研究可为实际层析系统的建立提供理论基础.     

用重谱检测天文迭代位移叠加法的收敛过程

在天文像复原“迭代位移叠加法”中，判定其迭代过程发展的方向和收敛结果是否正确是关键问题。根据斑点掩模法中目标重谱与目标像间的相互对应的性质，用目标重谱作为检验迭代结果的标准函数。用最小二乘法鉴别迭代过程的发展方向和收敛结果，因而可避免迭代过程的盲目性，并将得到正确复原像。     

改正重谱中噪声偏差的正性约束方法和天文高分辨率像复原实验

虽然斑纹掩模法能有效地消除大气流噪声引起的像质衰变,实现望远衍射极限分辨率像复原,但实际的斑纹探测器都不同程度地存在着多种噪声,它们在斑纹图平均功率谱和重谱中产生的偏差将使模和位相的复原受到严重干扰而最终导致像复原的失败。本文讨论了斑纹掩模法像复原中的噪声问题。提出正重谱噪声偏差的正性约束方法,报道了对天文目标：双星ＡＤＳ１６８００和三星Ｈｌｄ１７１ＡＤＳ１６６４８）的高分辨率像复原观测。     

Characterization of the 3D resolution of topometric sensors based on fringe and speckle pattern projection by a 3D transfer function

The increasing importance of optical 3D measurement techniques and the growing number of available methods and systems require a fast and simple method to characterize the measurement accuracy. However, the conventional approach of comparing measured coordinates to known reference coordinates of a test target faces two major challenges: the precise fabrication of the target and - in case of pattern projecting systems - finding the position of the reference points in the obtained point cloud. The modulation transfer function (MTF) on the other hand is an established instrument to describe the resolution characteristics of 2D imaging systems. Here, the MTF concept is applied to two different topometric systems based on fringe and speckle pattern projection to obtain a 3D transfer function. We demonstrate that in the present case fringe projection provides typically 3.5 times the 3D resolution achieved with speckle pattern projection. By combining measurements of the 3D transfer function with 2D MTF measurements the dependency of 2D and 3D resolutions are characterized. We show that the method allows for a simple comparison of the 3D resolution of two 3D sensors using a low cost test target, which is easy to manufacture.     

Continual deformation analysis with scanning phase method and time sequence phase method in temporal speckle pattern interferometry

If a laser beam illuminates a continual deformation object surface, it will lead to a temporal speckle pattern on the observation plane. Recording this time-dependent speckle pattern the deformation of the surface of an object can be obtained. Two methods, scanning phase method (SPM) and time sequence phase method (TSPM), have been introduced for measuring the displacement caused by the deformation in temporal speckle pattern interferometry (TSPI). Their principle is that by capturing a series of speckle interference patterns related to the object deformations, the fluctuations in the intensity of the interference patterns can be obtained. Through scanning these fluctuations and estimating both the average intensity and modulation of the temporal speckle interference patterns, the phase maps for whole-field displacements are calculated. In this way one is capable of quantitatively measuring continual displacements simply using a conventional electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) system without phase shifting or a carrier. The elaboration on the new methods is given in this paper and experiments are performed to demonstrate their performance with a conventional ESPI system.     

Realization of Absolute‐Phase Unwrapping and Speckle Suppression in Laser Digital Holography

In this paper, an absolute‐phase unwrapping and speckle suppression approach to reconstruct a three‐dimensional (3‐D) image of an object with laser digital holography is described. This method offers three advantages to enhance the performance of the phase reconstruction technique. First, both speckle suppression and phase unwrapping are processed in the complex amplitude domain rather than in the single phase or amplitude domain. With this approach, the phase details of the object are better preserved upon phase reconstruction. Second, the proposed algorithm requires no threshold determination and thus achieves self‐adaptive speckle suppression and robust phase unwrapping, in contrast to other methods. Finally, an improved dual‐domain image denoising method is applied to further remove speckle‐remnant‐induced phase distortion. Ideal 3‐D phase reconstruction results are obtained both theoretically and experimentally for the first time.     

Application of acoustic reflection tomography to sonar imaging

Computer-aided tomography is a technique for providing a two-dimensional cross-sectional view of a three-dimensional object through the digital processing of many one-dimensional views (or projections) taken at different look directions. In acoustic reflection tomography, insonifying the object and then recording the backscattered signal provides the projection information for a given look direction (or aspect angle). Processing the projection information for all possible aspect angles enables an image to be reconstructed that represents the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the object's acoustic reflectivity function when projected on the imaging plane. The shape of an idealized object, which is an elliptical cylinder, is reconstructed by applying standard backprojection, Radon transform inversion (using both convolution and filtered backprojections), and direct Fourier inversion to simulated projection data. The relative merits of the various reconstruction algorithms are assessed and the resulting shape estimates compared. For bandpass sonar data, however, the wave number components of the acoustic reflectivity function that are outside the passband are absent. This leads to the consideration of image reconstruction for bandpass data. Tomographic image reconstruction is applied to real data collected with an ultra-wideband sonar transducer to form high-resolution acoustic images of various underwater objects when the sonar and object are widely separated.     

Digital Bispectral Analysis and Its Applications to Nonlinear Wave Interactions

The bispectrum, which is an ensemble average of a product of three spectral components, is shown to be a very useful diagnostic tool in experimental studies of nonlinear wave interactions in random media. In particular, it is shown that the bicoherence spectrum may be used to discriminate between nonlinearly coupled waves and spontaneously excited waves and to measure the fraction of wave power due to the quadratic wave coupling in a self-excited fluctuation spectrum. Practical aspects of digital bispectral analysis techniques, such as estimation and statistical variability of the estimator, are also discussed. Finally, applications of bispectral analysis techniques in the analysis and interpretation of plasma fluctuation data are described.     

惯量椭圆法在单站光测目标三维姿态测量中的应用

对于从单站获得的目标图像进行轨迹及姿态的精确判读的问题,提出了一种新方法,即通过对图像中分割出来的目标图像,计算其惯量椭圆,并根据该惯量椭圆推算出目标的空间姿态角.这种方法充分利用了单站获得的二维目标图像的几何信息,并对目标图形的细节程度要求不高,适用于各种轴对称目标.在用vc++实现了该方法后对几组试验图片进行了判读,并对实验结果做了对比分析后表明：方法准确度较高,结果稳定.     

Quantitative damage imaging using Lamb wave diffraction tomography

In this paper, we investigate the diffraction tomography for quantitative imaging damages of partly through-thickness holes with various shapes in isotropic plates by using converted and non-converted scattered Lamb waves generated numerically. Finite element simulations are carried out to provide the scattered wave data. The validity of the finite element model is confirmed by the comparison of scattering directivity pattern(SDP) of circle blind hole damage between the finite element simulations and the analytical results. The imaging method is based on a theoretical relation between the one-dimensional(1D) Fourier transform of the scattered projection and two-dimensional(2D) spatial Fourier transform of the scattering object. A quantitative image of the damage is obtained by carrying out the 2D inverse Fourier transform of the scattering object. The proposed approach employs a circle transducer network containing forward and backward projections, which lead to so-called transmission mode(TMDT) and reflection mode diffraction tomography(RMDT),respectively. The reconstructed results of the two projections for a non-converted S0 scattered mode are investigated to illuminate the influence of the scattering field data. The results show that Lamb wave diffraction tomography using the combination of TMDT and RMDT improves the imaging effect compared with by using only the TMDT or RMDT. The scattered data of the converted A0 mode are also used to assess the performance of the diffraction tomography method. It is found that the circle and elliptical shaped damages can still be reasonably identified from the reconstructed images while the reconstructed results of other complex shaped damages like crisscross rectangles and racecourse are relatively poor.     

Smoothing of the bispectral density estimate based on digital nonlinear filtering and the Kravchenko weight functions

The methods of smoothing of the bispectral density estimate when solving the problems of restoration of signals with an unknown shape in the interference environment and random signal delay are considered for the first time. The performed analysis of statistical characteristics of noise that presents in the bispectrum estimate shows that these statistical characteristics have a rather complex unsteady behavior. An ambiguous selection of a filter optimal by the criterion of the minimum of the root-mean-square error and the minimum of dynamic distortions introduced by the filter seems to be problematic because of the unsteady behavior of counts of the bispectral density estimate and the absence of a priori data on the parameters of the restored signal. Therefore, statistic investigations were performed with the use of linear and nonlinear digital filters with variations of the sliding window sizes. It is shown that the advantages of the proposed approach most pronouncedly manifest themselves with the use of the nonlinear digital filtration and small signal/noise ratios at the input and/or with a small sampling volume of observed implementations. The Kravchenko weight functions are proposed to smooth the bispectrum of the multifrequency signal with a large dynamic range of variations in amplitudes of spectral components. The presented results are of practical interest for use in applications such as radiolocation, hydrolocation, and digital communication.     

Applications of laser speckle photography for thermal flow problems

Laser speckle photography measures projected beam deflection of a phase object. The beam deflection measured at the solid surface will directly determine the wall-temperature gradient. Thus, the laser-speckle photography allows the evaluation of the convection-heat-transfer coefficients without the need to correct for conduction and radiation heat losses, which otherwise would be necessary. Selected results and brief discussions are presented for several natural convection-heat-transfer problems. Second, high-temperature applications of laser speckle photography shows potential as a nonintrusive means of measuring flame temperature. A fairly good agreement is shown in comparison of the laser speckle data with intrusive thermocouple data. Suggestive discussions are made to further improve the accuracy and sensitivity of the laser speckle photography technique in high-temperature applications. Finally, tomographic reconstruction of laser speckle photography data is discussed using both actual test fields and computer-synthesized phantom fields. The conventional algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) has been modified to apply for the laser speckle tomography. The efficacy of ART is examined particularly under a limited number of projections.     

Region-of-interest imaging in differential phase-contrast tomography

Differential phase-contrast tomography, also known as beam-deflection tomography, is a method for reconstructing an object's refractive index distribution from knowledge of differential projection data that describe beam deflection angles. We describe and demonstrate an approach to determining regions of interest within an object from truncated differential projection data.     

Experimental research of circular incoherently synthetic aperture imaging ladar using chirped-laser and heterodyne detection

Synthetic aperture imaging ladar (SAIL) technique belongs fully coherent processing in both the time domain and space domain and has a rather high implement difficulty. To solve this problem, the concept of circular incoherently SAIL is introduced. A speckle version image of a two-dimensional (2D) letter ’E’ target is reconstructed from E-field projection data detected by a circular incoherently SAIL system. The experimental system is constructed by three subsystems using chirped-pulse laser as the light source and heterodyne detection to get the range information of the target. The reconstruction of the image and the noise effect are also discussed in detail.     

A simplified approach for the generation of projection data for cone beam geometry

To test a developed reconstruction algorithm for cone beam geometry, whether it is transmission or emission tomography, one needs projection data. Generally, mathematical phantoms are generated in three dimensions and the projection for all rotation angles is calculated. For non-symmetric objects, the process is cumbersome and computation intensive. This paper describes a simple methodology for the generation of projection data for cone beam geometry for both transmission and emission tomographies by knowing the object’s attenuation and/or source spatial distribution details as input. The object details such as internal geometrical distribution are nowhere involved in the projection data calculation. This simple approach uses the pixilated object matrix values in terms of the matrix indices and spatial geometrical coordinates. The projection data of some typical phantoms (generated using this approach) are reconstructed using standard FDK algorithm and Novikov’s inversion formula. Correlation between the original and reconstructed images has been calculated to compare the image quality.     

Comparison of phase recovery methods in spiral speckle pattern interferometry correlation fringes

Spiral interferometry can be used as a solution to the problem of sign ambiguity presented in the conventional speckle pattern interferometric technique when the optical phase needs to be reconstructed from a single closed fringe system. Depressions and elevations of the topography corresponding to the object deformation are distinguished by the direction of rotation of the local spiral fringe pattern. In this work, we implement and compare several methods for optical phase reconstruction by analyzing a single image composed of spiral speckle pattern interferometry correlation fringes. The implemented methods are based on contour line demodulation, center line demodulation, Spiral Phase Quadrature Transform and the 2D Riesz transform with multivector structure. Contour line and center line demodulation approaches are exclusively dedicated to images containing a fringe system with spiral structure. The others are based on the 2D Riesz transform, these being well known approaches in conventional interferometry. We examine simulated experiments and analyze some of the emerging drawbacks for solving the phase reconstruction problem by using different mean values of speckle size and background noise levels. We also discuss several numerical procedures that may well improve the efficiency and robustness of the presented numerical implementations. The performance of the implemented demodulation methods is evaluated by using a universal image quality index and therefore a quantitative comparison is also presented.     

Optimal bispectral detection of weak, quadratic nonlinearities in structural systems

This work derives the expressions for the bispectrum and bicoherence functions for multi-degree-of-freedom spring-mass systems with quadratic nonlinearities subject to inputs described by a wide class of random processes. The derivation uses a Volterra series model for the system response and yields expressions for both “homogeneous spectra”, where the output of only one degree of freedom is used, and “mixed spectra” where the bispectral density contains multiple response time series. This expression is then used to determine the optimal probability distribution of the input and the optimal bispectrum to compute for the goal of maximizing the probability of detecting the nonlinearity.     

斜入射引入动态多重散射机制的激光散斑抑制

散斑抑制一直是激光显示技术的研究热点。对激光光束经SiO₂溶液所形成散斑的特性分析,建立了多重散射与散斑颗粒大小的联系。结合动态光散射理论,提出利用斜入射引入动态多重散射机制的激光散斑抑制方法,并构建由静态散射片和装有粒径为300 nm、摩尔浓度为3.0×10-4 μm-3的SiO₂悬浮液的光通管组成的散斑抑制装置,将其置入激光显示系统的光源部分。针对光束以不同入射角进入SiO₂悬浮液对散斑图像对比度影响进行了系统实验分析。结果表明,光束以约8°进入SiO₂悬浮液能将散斑图像的对比度从0.43降低至0.067。通过该方法实现了散斑颗粒的空间平均和散斑图像的时间平均,提高了散斑抑制的效果。散斑抑制单元无需振动装置且便于集成到激光投影系统中,不仅提高了系统的可靠性也减小了成本。