Planar Fourier capture array
The Planar Fourier Capture Array or PFCA is a tiny camera that requires no mirror, lens, focal length, or moving parts[1][2]. It is composed of angle-sensitive pixels, which can me manufactured in unmodified CMOS processes.
Angle-sensitive pixels have a sensitivity to light that is sinusoidal in incident angle along the optically-sensitive axis[3]. Each sensor of the PFCA relates a distinct component of the 2D Fourier Transform.
Due to the fact that PFCAs do not require focusing optics or moving parts, they can be made smaller than the smallest focusing camera. Counting only the active portions of the PFCA (and not the structural substrate giving it physical robustness), PFCAs are a factor of 105 smaller than the smallest focusing camera[4].
References
- ^ P. R. Gill, C. Lee, D.-G. Lee, A. Wang, and A. Molnar, "A microscale camera using direct fourier-domain scene capture," Opt. Lett., vol. 36, no. 15, pp. 2949-2951, Aug. 2011.
- ^ P. R. Gill, C. Lee, S. Sivaramakrishnan, and A. Molnar, "Robustness of planar fourier capture arrays to color changes and lost pixels," Journal of Instrumentation, vol. 7, no. 01, 2012.
- ^ A. Wang, P. Gill, and A. Molnar, "Light field image sensors based on the talbot effect," Applied Optics, vol. 48, no. 31, pp. 5897-5905, 2009.
- ^ P. R. Gill, C. Lee, D.-G. Lee, A. Wang, and A. Molnar, "A microscale camera using direct fourier-domain scene capture," Opt. Lett., vol. 36, no. 15, pp. 2949-2951, Aug. 2011.