Tunability of the multiple-bandpass response of cascaded single-source and continuous-sample microwave photonic filters

We report a theoretical and experimental investigation on the structure and tuning capabilities of cascaded associations of microwave photonic filters composed of a single-source incoherent filter and a continuous-sample filter based on periodically-sliced broadband sources that undergo dispersion after being modulated. We derive the condition that guarantees both incoherent operation and cascading of the radio-frequency responses. This condition implies a lower bound for the ratio between resonance bandwidth (Δf) of the continuous-sample filter and the free spectral range (FSR) of the single-source filter, thus showing the possibility of cascading filters in two complementary regimes, Δf/FSR < 1 and >1. The tunability of the cascaded responses is also explored in a series of proof-of-concept experiments, where a static response of a single-tap, incoherent loop filter is reconfigured by use of a Solc filter. In particular, it is demonstrated a reconfigurable single and dual-bandpass cascaded response, which can be further modified by changes in dispersion, spectral period of the slicing filter, central wavelength or spectral width of the broadband source, and apodization of the resonance. The results are compared with the predictions of the Gaussian model for the degradation of resonances in continuous-sample filters due to second-order dispersion.     

Multispectral imaging with a confocal microendoscope

The concept of a multispectral confocal microscope for in vivo imaging is introduced. To demonstrate the concept we modified a slit-scan fluorescence confocal microendoscope incorporating a fiber-optic catheter for in vivo imaging to record multispectral images. The system was designed to examine cellular structures during optical biopsy and to exploit the diagnostic information contained within the spectral domain. Preliminary experiments were carried out in phantoms and cell cultures to demonstrate the potential of the technique.     

多光谱成像技术诊断植物病虫害的人工神经网络模型

为了实现可靠的植物病虫害诊断,提出把人工神经网络和多光谱成像技术结合的方法,并将该方法用于常见的三种黄瓜病害的识别研究。在此基础上,实验采用窄带多光谱成像技术获取患病黄瓜叶面的14个可见光通道和近红外通道、全色通道的多光谱图像。利用BP网络对病斑样本的光谱信息进行学习分类。和14通道训练结果比较,增加850nm的近红外通道和全色通道,使网络的训练时间缩短、预测能力提高。实验结果表明,这种方法对植物进行快速、准确和非破坏性诊断提供可靠的技术支持。     

Multispectral laser imaging for advanced food analysis

A hardware–software apparatus for food inspection capable of realizing multispectral NIR laser imaging at four different wavelengths is herein discussed. The system was designed to operate in a through-transmission configuration to detect the presence of unwanted foreign bodies inside samples, whether packed or unpacked. A modified Lock-In technique was employed to counterbalance the significant signal intensity attenuation due to transmission across the sample and to extract the multispectral information more efficiently. The NIR laser wavelengths used to acquire the multispectral images can be varied to deal with different materials and to focus on specific aspects. In the present work the wavelengths were selected after a preliminary analysis to enhance the image contrast between foreign bodies and food in the sample, thus identifying the location and nature of the defects. Experimental results obtained from several specimens, with and without packaging, are presented and the multispectral image processing as well as the achievable spatial resolution of the system are discussed.     

Multispectral imaging of Mars: ISM results

Summary Multispectral imaging of planets opens a new class of studies of atmospheric and surface signatures. With ISM experiment on board Phobos, the first IR multispectral imaging of Mars from space was achieved. In viem of the Future Omega experiment on board Mars 94, we present here a sample of data and results (and problems) which can be achieved by studying spectral reflectance. Paper presented at the V Cosmic Physics National Conference, S. Miniato, November 27–30, 1990.     

Multispectral imaging of paintings by optical scanning

In the last few years, there has been a growing interest on multi-spectral imaging as non-destructive technique for painting diagnostics. Providing spectral and colorimetric characterization of the whole paint layer, such a technique is suitable to document the conservation state of an artwork. In this work we present a scanning system for multi-spectral imaging of paintings in the 380–800 nm spectral region, specifically developed to overcome most of the problems related to traditional detection systems based on CCD or Vidicon camera. The device is composed of a spectrometer for contact-less single-point spectral measurements, moved by two orthogonally mounted translation stages. It scans an area of 1 m² with 16 dots/mm² spatial resolution and 10 nm spectral resolution. Spectral reflection factor and tristimulus value measurements were carried out on coloured ceramic tiles and the results were compared to the corresponding certified values. We also present the first application to an ancient painting.     

Multispectral photoacoustic imaging of fluorochromes in small animals

Fluorochromes have become essential reporter molecules in biological research. We show that the depth-resolved distribution of fluorochromes in small animals can be imaged with 25 fmol sensitivity and 150 microm spatial resolution by means of multispectral photoacoustic imaging. The major advantage of the multispectral approach is the sensitive differentiation of chromophores and fluorochromes of interest based on self-reference measurements, as evidenced in this study by resolving a commonly used fluorochrome (Alexa Fluor 750) in mouse. The suggested method is well suited for enhancing visualization of functional and molecular information in vivo and longitudinally.     

Coded excitation using biphase-coded pulse with mismatched filters for high-frequency ultrasound imaging

A scheme of using phase-coded excitation and mismatched filter compression for high-frequency ultrasound imaging is presented in this paper. Biphase-coded pulses were constructed to excite the transducer. Received signals were compressed with mismatched filters optimized by minimizing peak-sidelobe-level (PSL). Both simulation and experiments were carried out to demonstrate the advantage of this technique. The simulation results demonstrated a possible sidelobe reduction (<-90 dB) with a slightly decrease of the signal-to-noise ratio of less than 1 dB compared with the compression using matched filters alone. The experimental results showed about 14 dB SNR improvement as well as -40 dB sidelobe level when the Barker-13 code excitation with 3-cycle sinusoidal wave carrier was used.     

Multispectral image compression using three-dimensional transform zeroblock coding

This paper proposes a new multispectral image data compression algorithm (KLT/WT-3DEZB). The proposed coding strategy consists of three main steps. Firstly, a wavelet transform (WT) is applied to reduce the spatial redundancies. Then, a Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) is used to reduce the redundancies in the spectral domain. Finally, a modified SPECK algorithm-three-dimensional embedded zeroblock (3DEZB) algorithm is proposed and used to encode the transformed coefficients. Numerical experiments show that the reconstructed images using the proposed algorithm exhibite a better quality and a higher compression ratio than those obtained by traditional KLT/WT-3DSPIHT, 3DSPIHT, and 3DSPECK algorithms.     

基于光照-反射成像模型和形态学操作的多谱段图像增强算法

为解决多谱段降质图像增强问题,提出了一种基于光照-反射成像模型和形态学操作的多谱段图像增强算法.首先对图像饱和度使用自适应非线性拉伸函数进行拉伸,使增强后的图像色彩更加饱和、自然;接下来利用引导滤波算法提取出图像的光照分量,提出了一种基于细节特征的加权融合策略,利用光照分布特性构造了一种自适应Gamma校正函数对光照分量进行处理,并将其与利用对比度受限的自适应直方图均衡化方法处理后的光照分量以及原始光照分量进行融合;然后在反射分量校正时,构造了一种形态学操作函数来校正反射信息;最后合并光照分量和反射分量,并与处理后的饱和度分量和色调分量一起得到增强图像.采用主客观评价指标对可见光低照度图像、水下图像、高动态范围图像、沙尘暴图像、雾天图像和热红外图像6种降质多谱段图像实验结果进行分析比较,结果表明本文算法能够有效地抑制图像噪声、增强图像细节信息、改善图像视觉效果,可应用于多种图像增强领域.     

Optical Hilbert transform using polarization filters

Using a combination of linear polarization filters, a new method to generate the optical Hilbert transform (OHT) is described. Linear polarizers, acting as knife-edge filters in the spatial frequency plane and together with an image plane analyzer, can produce at the output, the input signal, its analytical function and its OHT. Both one and two dimensional, also angularly anisotropic and isotropic, OHTs are discussed. With a white light source, this method also produces a white light HT (WHT).     

Statistical evaluation of clutter filters in color flow imaging

The filter used to separate blood signals from the tissue clutter signal is an important part of a color flow system. In this paper, statistical detection theory is used to evaluate the quality of the most commonly used clutter filters. The probability of falsely classifying a sample volume as containing blood is kept below a specified threshold. With this constraint, the probability of correctly detecting blood is calculated for all the filters. Using a measured clutter signal, we found that polynomial regression filters and projection-initialized IIR filters are best among the commonly used filters. The probability of correctly detecting blood with velocity 10.1 cm/s was 0.32 for both these filters. The corresponding value for the optimal detector was 0.81, whereas a regression filter that depends on the clutter signal statistics achieved a blood detection probability of 0.72.     

滤光片式双视场成像光谱仪光学系统设计

为了满足机载搜索与跟踪系统的实际使用要求,根据变焦系统的基本理论和成像光谱系统的特点,设计一个滤光片式双视场成像光谱仪光学系统实例。系统采用1/3英寸CCD接收,像元尺寸为6.0 m6.0 m。通过高斯法分析与求解得到初始结构,使用Zemax软件对其优化,实现0.45 m～0.7 m/0.6 m～0.95 m双波段清晰成像,通过轴向移动变倍组完成139.75/32.25双视场转换,在视场切换过程中,F数为5.6且恒定不变。设计结果表明:在各谱段下系统宽视场畸变3.5%,窄视场畸变0.2%,探测器的Nyquist频率50 lp/mm处光学传递函数的峰值均大于0.5,系统的最小后截距大于35 mm,用以安装滤光片轮,满足装配要求。     

体布拉格光栅滤波片及其光谱成像应用

利用厚体布拉格光栅的波长选择特性对目标光场进行窄带滤波,是实现高光谱成像的一种新途径。基于严格耦合波理论,设计了体布拉格光栅结构,探索了厚体布拉格光栅的制作工艺,搭建系统光路验证了体布拉格光栅的光谱成像能力。研究结果表明：要获得较窄滤波谱宽,需要提高体布拉格光栅的厚度周期比,并严格控制入射光束发散角;刻写光束质量、震动和偏振会极大地影响制作的光栅条纹面质量,需要从优化写入光的光束均匀性、采用防震措施以及调整两刻写光束偏振一致性等方面优化刻写过程,以提高光栅的衍射效率和质量;验证了体布拉格光栅滤波片进行空间二维面阵成像的能力,宽谱光源透射条件下,通过对入射光束进行准直,滤波谱宽5 nm左右,空间分辨率约4 lines/mm;漫反射条件下,使用体布拉格光栅对进行色散补偿,能够实现较为清晰的成像,空间分辨率约4.9 lines/mm。     

Walsh filters for tailoring of resolution in microscopic imaging

Walsh functions form a complete set of normal orthogonal functions that take on values either +1 or -1 over a prespecified domain. Corresponding filters can be synthesized as phase filters that take on values either 0 or pi phase. This paper presents different types of Walsh functions in one and two dimensions to demonstrate that a large class of pupil filters can be synthesized from them to cater to the various needs of diffraction pattern for tailoring transverse and/or axial resolution in microscopic applications. Illustrative numerical results are presented.     

3D behaviour of Frieden filters in confocal imaging

The three-dimensional (3D) focal behaviour of the super-resolving Frieden filters is investigated numerically. It is shown that, as the central bright spot is sharpened, super-giant secondary maximums are formed on the optic axis. These lobes are much higher that the well-known side-lobes inherent to spatial filtering that surround the restricted, utilisable field, whose characteristics in the meridional plane are depicted for various values of the space-bandwidth parameter and for various numbers of terms that compose the window function. The two-terms filter is found to present, for the first time to my knowledge, some axial apodizing properties. To be compatible with practical realisation, the use of this class of filters in a single- and two-photon confocally scanned system is discussed in terms of 3D super-resolution with an intentionally limited light-power loss. It is shown that these filters match particularly well with recently designed axial apodizers for the transmission-mode confocal scanning microscope and provide a 3D intensity point-spread volume reduction of variable amount as high as 37 percent. The filtering process is shown to vary significantly with the mode of operation.     

Fingerprint image enhancement using multi-scale DDFB based diffusion filters and modified Hong filters

The main task of a fingerprint image enhancement is to enhance the image in such a way that it not only remove the noise but also enhance the reliable minutiae points. For this purpose, in this paper we propose a multi-scale decimation-free directional filter bank method for reliable orientation estimation. This reliable orientation is used in coherence enhancement diffusion and in Gabor filter based enhancement, which overcomes the drawbacks of these two methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method not only enhances the images but also facilitates the minutiae algorithm, by enhancing the true minutiae points.     

Optical stack filters using parallel fuzzy logic

Stack filters are more general and robust nonlinear filters than median filter, which possess threshold decomposition and stacking properties. Stack filters can be carried out one step using optical parallel fuzzy logic technique instead of three steps in threshold decomposition. All window, width 3 stack filters but two trivial stack filters are expressed in unified expression with coefficiencies to choose desired stack filter, so they are realized by an optical approach, window 3×3 separable stack filters can be realized by cascading the window width 3 stack filters. Window width 5 stack filters can be realized using the same method.     

Multispectral and polarimetric imaging in the LWIR: Intersubband detectors as a versatile solution

GaAs-based intersubband infrared detectors, such as Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors and Quantum Cascade Detectors have proven their ability to address not only conventional thermal imaging applications, but also advanced functionalities such as multispectral and polarimetric imaging. This paper illustrates this potential through the results achieved at III–V Lab in the frame of several ambitious projects, ranging from military applications to Earth observation and exo-planet detection. The advantages of these technologies at the system level are evidenced.