Use of principal states of polarization of a liquid crystal device to achieve a dynamical modulation of broadband beams

A spatially resolved polarization switcher operating over a bandwidth of 200 nm is demonstrated. The system is based on liquid crystal technology and no specific-purpose birefringent element is required. The procedure is founded on the polarization mode dispersion theory of optical fibers, which provides a convenient framework for the design of broadband polarization systems. Our device benefits from the high resolution of off-the-shelf twisted nematic liquid crystal displays and is well suited for spatial modulation of the intensity of broadband beams, such as those coming from few-cycle femtosecond laser

Compressive holography with a single-pixel detector

This Letter develops a framework for digital holography at optical wavelengths by merging phase-shifting interferometry with single-pixel optical imaging based on compressive sensing. The field diffracted by an input object is sampled by Hadamard patterns with a liquid crystal spatial light modulator. The concept of a single-pixel camera is then adapted to perform interferometric imaging of the sampled diffraction pattern by using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Phase-shifting techniques together with the application of a backward light propagation algorithm allow the complex amplitude of the object under scrutiny to be resolved. A proof-of-concept experiment evaluating the phase distribution of an ophthalmic lens with compressive phase-shifting holography is provided

Phase imaging by spatial wavefront sampling

Phase-imaging techniques extract the optical path length information of a scene, whereas wavefront sensors provide the shape of an optical wavefront. Since these two applications have different technical requirements, they have developed their own specific technologies. Here we show how to perform phase imaging combining wavefront sampling using a reconfigurable spatial light modulator with a beam position detector. The result is a time-multiplexed detection scheme, capable of being shortened considerably by compressive sensing. This robust referenceless method does not require the phase-unwrapping algorithms demanded by conventional interferometry, and its lenslet-free nature removes trade-offs usually found in Shack–Hartmann sensors

Imaging the optical properties of turbid media with single-pixel detection based on the Kubelka–Munk model

We present a diffuse optical imaging system with structured illumination and integrated detection based on the Kubelka– Munk light propagation model for the spatial characterization of scattering and absorption properties of turbid media. The proposed system is based on the application of singlepixel imaging techniques. Our strategy allows us to retrieve images of the absorption and scattering properties of a turbid media slab by using integrating spheres with photodiodes as bucket detectors. We validate our idea by imaging the absorption and scattering coefficients of a spatially heterogeneous phantom

High-resolution adaptive imaging with a single photodiode

During the past few years, the emergence of spatial light modulators operating at the tens of kHz has enabled new imaging modalities based on single-pixel photodetectors. The nature of single-pixel imaging enforces a reciprocal relationship between frame rate and image size. Compressive imaging methods allow images to be reconstructed from a number of projections that is only a fraction of the number of pixels. In microscopy, single-pixel imaging is capable of producing images with a moderate size of 128 × 128 pixels at frame rates under one Hz. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the development of advanced techniques for high-resolution real-time operation in applications such as biological microscopy. Here, we introduce an adaptive compressive technique based on wavelet trees within this framework. In our adaptive approach, the resolution of the projecting patterns remains deliberately small, which is crucial to avoid the demanding memory requirements of compressive sensing algorithms. At pattern projection rates of 22.7 kHz, our technique would enable to obtain 128 × 128 pixel images at frame rates around 3 Hz. In our experiments, we have demonstrated a cost-effective solution employing a commercial projection display

Dual-mode optical microscope based on single-pixel imaging

We demonstrate an inverted microscope that can image specimens in both reflection and transmission modes simultaneously with a single light source. The microscope utilizes a digital micromirror device (DMD) for patterned illumination altogether with two single-pixel photosensors for efficient light detection. The system, a scan-less device with no moving parts, works by sequential projection of a set of binary intensity patterns onto the sample that are codified onto a modified commercial DMD. Data to be displayed are geometrically transformed before written into a memory cell to cancel optical artifacts coming from the diamond-like shaped structure of the micromirror array. The 24-bit color depth of the display is fully exploited to increase the frame rate by a factor of 24, which makes the technique practicable for real samples. Our commercial DMD-based LED-illumination is cost effective and can be easily coupled as an add-on module for already existing inverted microscopes. The reflection and transmission information provided by our dual microscope complement each other and can be useful for imaging non-uniform samples and to prevent self-shadowing effects.This work was supported by MINECO through projects FIS2013-40666-P, the Generalitat Valenciana PROMETEO/2012/021, ISIC/2012/013, and by the Universitat Jaume I P1-1B2012-55. A.D. Rodríguez acknowledges grant PREDOC/2012/41 from Universitat Jaume I. Thanks also to Dr. Tatiana Pina and Dr. Josep Jaques from Universitat Jaume I for providing us the biological samples

Single-pixel polarimetric imaging

We present an optical system that performs Stokes polarimetric imaging with a single-pixel detector. This fact is possible by applying the theory of compressive sampling to the data acquired by a commercial polarimeter without spatial resolution. The measurement process is governed by a spatial light modulator, which sequentially generates a set of preprogrammed light intensity patterns. Experimental results are presented and discussed for an object that provides an inhomogeneous polarization distribution.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) grants and FIS2010- 15746

Poincaré-sphere representation of phase-mostly twisted nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulators

We establish necessary conditions in order to design a phase-only wave front modulation system from a liquid crystal display. These conditions determine the dependence of the polarization state of the light emerging from the display on the addressing gray level. The analysis, which is carried out by means of the coherence-matrix formalism, includes the depolarization properties of the device. Two different types of polarization distributions at the output of the liquid crystal cells are found. This approach is applied to a twisted nematic liquid crystal display. In this case, an optimization algorithm must be designed in order to select the input polarization state that leads to the required distributions. We show that the Poincaré-sphere representation provides a convenient framework to design the optimization algorithm as it allows for a reduced number of degrees of freedom. This feature significantly decreases the computation time. Laboratory results are presented for a liquid crystal-onsilicon display showing a phase modulation depth greater than 2π radians with an intensity variation lower than 6%. In addition, a hybrid-ternary modulation (HTM), an operation regime employed in holographic data storage, is achieve

Full-Color Stereoscopic Imaging With a Single-Pixel Photodetector

We present an optical system for stereoscopic color imaging by using a single-pixel detector. The system works by illuminating the input scene with a sequence of microstructured light patterns generated by a color digital light projector (DLP). A single monochromatic photodiode, synchronized with the DLP, measures the light scattered by the object for each pattern. The image is recovered computationally by applying compressive sensing techniques. The RGB chromatic components of the image are discriminated by exploiting the time-multiplexed color codification of the DLP. The stereoscopic pair is obtained by splitting the light field generated by the DLP and projecting microstructured light patterns onto the sample from two different directions. The experimental setup is configured by simple optical components, a commercial photodiode and an off-the-shelf DLP projector. Color stereoscopic images of a 3D scene obtained with this system are shown.This work was supported in part by MINECO under Grant FIS2013-40666-P, Generalitat Valenciana under Grant PROMETEO2012-021 and Grant ISIC 2012/013, and Universitat Jaume I under Grant P1-1B2012-55

Image transmission through dynamic scattering media by single-pixel photodetection

Smart control of light propagation through highly scattering media is a much desired goal with major technological implications. Since interaction of light with highly scattering media results in partial or complete depletion of ballistic photons, it is in principle impossible to transmit images through distances longer than the extinction length. Nevertheless, different methods for image transmission, focusing, and imaging through scattering media by means of wavefront control have been published over the past few years. In this paper we show that single-pixel optical systems, based on compressive detection, can also overcome the fundamental limitation imposed by multiple scattering to successfully transmit information. But, in contrast with the recently introduced schemes that use the transmission matrix technique, our approach does not require any a-priori calibration process that ultimately makes the present method suitable to use with dynamic scattering media. This represents an advantage over previous methods that rely on optical feedback wavefront control, especially for short speckle decorrelation times.We thank Víctor Torres-Company at the Chalmers University and Peter Török at the Imperial College of London for useful discussions and for reading the manuscript. This work was supported in part from MINECO (grants CSD2007-00013 and FIS2010-15746), Generalitat Valenciana (grants PROMETEO2012-021 and ISIC 2012/013), and the Universitat Jaume I (P1-1B2012-55). E.I. and F.S. were partially supported by a Generalitat Valenciana research fellowship