Biomedical subjects

W Thomas Cathey

Publications and source records attributed to W Thomas Cathey.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Effect of detector noise in incoherent hybrid imaging systems.

Hybrid imaging systems involve the joint design of an optical image-gathering module and digital processing algorithms to obtain a required final image. They have the potential to achieve imaging performance hitherto unobtainable by conventional imaging techniques. A reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio of the final image is one of their main disadvantages when one is considering linear signal processing. We analyze the effect of additive white noise at the detector on the performance of hybrid imaging systems under quasi-monochromatic incoherent illumination. We also show numerical results and computer-simulated images for an extended depth-of-field hybrid system.

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PubMed2004

Phase plate to extend the depth of field of incoherent hybrid imaging systems.

A hybrid imaging system combines a modified optical imaging system and a digital postprocessing step. We describe a spatial-domain method for designing a pupil phase plate to extend the depth of field of an incoherent hybrid imaging system with a rectangular aperture. We use this method to obtain a pupil phase plate to extend the depth of field, which we refer to as a logarithmic phase plate. Introducing a logarithmic phase plate at the exit pupil of a simulated diffraction-limited system and digitally processing the detector's output extend the depth of field by an order of magnitude more than the Hopkins defocus criterion. We also examine the effect of using a charge-coupled device optical detector, instead of an ideal optical detector, on the extension of the depth of field. Finally, we compare the performance of the logarithmic phase plate with that of a cubic phase plate in extending the depth of field of a hybrid imaging system with a rectangular aperture.

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PubMed2002

Reduced depth of field in incoherent hybrid imaging systems.

A hybrid imaging system combines a modified optical imaging module and a digital postprocessing step. We define what to our knowledge is a new metric to quantify the blurring of a defocused image that is more suitable than the defocus parameter for describing defocused hybrid imaging systems. We use this metric to design a pupil phase grating to reduce the depth of field, thereby increasing the axial resolution, of an incoherent hybrid imaging system using quasi-monochromatic illumination. By introducing this grating at the exit pupil and digitally processing the output of the detector, we reduce the depth of field by more than a factor of 2. Finally, we examine the effect of using a CCD optical detector, instead of an ideal optical detector, on the reduction of the depth of field.

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PubMed2002

Extended depth of field with a nonlinear silver-halide emulsion detector.

Presented here are experimental results of an extended depth-of-field (EDF) system using film to record the image. The EDF system used is an application of wave-front coding. A phase mask is placed in the aperture stop of the lens to code the image data; then digital signal processing is used to decode the image. Wave-front coding is based on linear systems theory, but film is not a linear medium. An extra step of linearization is then needed to apply the technique. Both nonlinear and linearized results are shown, as is a test image that demonstrates the success of the technique for nonlinear media.

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PubMed2002

New paradigm for imaging systems.

We describe a new paradigm for designing hybrid imaging systems. These imaging systems use optics with a special aspheric surface to code the image so that the point-spread function or the modulation transfer function has specified characteristics. Signal processing then decodes the detected image. The coding can be done so that the depth of focus can be extended. This allows the manufacturing tolerance to be reduced, focus-related aberrations to be controlled, and imaging systems to be constructed with only one optical element plus some signal processing.

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