Work

Energy-focused illumination via phase-only wavefront modulation for computational imaging

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Designing illumination fields for coherent computational imaging requires sufficient power delivery to the region of interest (ROI) and spatial-response diversity across measurements. We propose energy-focused illumination through joint phase-only wavefront modulation with a fixed aperture geometry and amplitude profile. Spatial-response diversity is characterized by the effective rank of the illumination matrix, which collects complex field responses at ROI positions across states. We maximize a determinant criterion in the dominant aperture-to-ROI propagation subspace, subject to a prescribed minimum ROI illumination power, to raise a lower bound on mean ROI illumination power while discouraging degeneration of the retained spatial-response modes. Across four design thresholds, the optimized 512-state numerical sequences provide ROI power gains of 5.01–8.11 dB over random illumination, each matching the random-reference effective rank at its designated threshold. Simulations with point and extended targets and anechoic-chamber measurements demonstrate regional illumination enhancement and improved computational imaging quality.

Source: Optics Express

DOI: 10.1364/oe.618536

Authors: Huanxu Zhan, Yongqiang Cheng, Hongyan Liu, Kang Liu, Yang Yang, Zhengkuan Tan

Institution: National University of Defense Technology

Language: English

Topic: Random lasers and scattering media

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,270

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China