Micro Fourier Transform Profilometry (μ\muFTP): 3D shape measurement at 10,000 frames per second

Recent advances in imaging sensors and digital light projection technology have facilitated a rapid progress in 3D optical sensing, enabling 3D surfaces of complex-shaped objects to be captured with improved resolution and accuracy. However, due to the large number of projection patterns required for phase recovery and disambiguation, the maximum fame rates of current 3D shape measurement techniques are still limited to the range of hundreds of frames per second (fps). Here, we demonstrate a new 3D dynamic imaging technique, Micro Fourier Transform Profilometry ($\mu$FTP), which can capture 3D surfaces of transient events at up to 10,000 fps based on our newly developed high-speed fringe projection system. Compared with existing techniques, $\mu$FTP has the prominent advantage of recovering an accurate, unambiguous, and dense 3D point cloud with only two projected patterns. Furthermore, the phase information is encoded within a single high-frequency fringe image, thereby allowing motion-artifact-free reconstruction of transient events with temporal resolution of 50 microseconds. To show $\mu$FTP's broad utility, we use it to reconstruct 3D videos of 4 transient scenes: vibrating cantilevers, rotating fan blades, bullet fired from a toy gun, and balloon's explosion triggered by a flying dart, which were previously difficult or even unable to be captured with conventional approaches.Comment: This manuscript was originally submitted on 30th January 1

Cavlectometry: Towards Holistic Reconstruction of Large Mirror Objects

We introduce a method based on the deflectometry principle for the reconstruction of specular objects exhibiting significant size and geometric complexity. A key feature of our approach is the deployment of an Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) as pattern generator. To unfold the full power of this extraordinary experimental setup, an optical encoding scheme is developed which accounts for the distinctive topology of the CAVE. Furthermore, we devise an algorithm for detecting the object of interest in raw deflectometric images. The segmented foreground is used for single-view reconstruction, the background for estimation of the camera pose, necessary for calibrating the sensor system. Experiments suggest a significant gain of coverage in single measurements compared to previous methods. To facilitate research on specular surface reconstruction, we will make our data set publicly available

Holographic capture of femtosecond pulse propagation

We have implemented a holographic system to study the propagation of femtosecond laser pulses with high temporal (150 fs) and spatial resolutions (4 µm). The phase information in the holograms allows us to reconstruct both positive and negative index changes due to the Kerr nonlinearity (positive) and plasma formation (negative), and to reconstruct three-dimensional structure. Dramatic differences were observed in the interaction of focused femtosecond pulses with air, water, and carbon disulfide. The air becomes ionized in the focal region, while in water long plasma filaments appear before the light reaches a tight focus. In contrast, in carbon disulfide the optical beam breaks up into multiple filaments but no plasma is measured. We explain these different propagation regimes in terms of the different nonlinear material properties

Perspectives of Imaging of Single Protein Molecules with the Present Design of the European XFEL. - Part I - X-ray Source, Beamlime Optics and Instrument Simulations

The Single Particles, Clusters and Biomolecules (SPB) instrument at the European XFEL is located behind the SASE1 undulator, and aims to support imaging and structure determination of biological specimen between about 0.1 micrometer and 1 micrometer size. The instrument is designed to work at photon energies from 3 keV up to 16 keV. This wide operation range is a cause for challenges to the focusing optics. In particular, a long propagation distance of about 900 m between x-ray source and sample leads to a large lateral photon beam size at the optics. The beam divergence is the most important parameter for the optical system, and is largest for the lowest photon energies and for the shortest pulse duration (corresponding to the lowest charge). Due to the large divergence of nominal X-ray pulses with duration shorter than 10 fs, one suffers diffraction from mirror aperture, leading to a 100-fold decrease in fluence at photon energies around 4 keV, which are ideal for imaging of single biomolecules. The nominal SASE1 output power is about 50 GW. This is very far from the level required for single biomolecule imaging, even assuming perfect beamline and focusing efficiency. Here we demonstrate that the parameters of the accelerator complex and of the SASE1 undulator offer an opportunity to optimize the SPB beamline for single biomolecule imaging with minimal additional costs and time. Start to end simulations from the electron injector at the beginning of the accelerator complex up to the generation of diffraction data indicate that one can achieve diffraction without diffraction with about 0.5 photons per Shannon pixel at near-atomic resolution with 1e13 photons in a 4 fs pulse at 4 keV photon energy and in a 100 nm focus, corresponding to a fluence of 1e23 ph/cm^2. This result is exemplified using the RNA Pol II molecule as a case study