PATCHWORK FRESNEL ZONE PLATES FOR LENSLESS IMAGING
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An imaging device comprising:
- an array of photoelements; and
adjacent and dissimilar diffractive structures overlying the array and each having an area at least 10 times the area of one of the photoelements, each diffractive structure best focusing light onto the array of photoelements over a respective different range of incident angles.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described are imaging devices that employ patchworks of diffractive structures as focusing optics. Each diffractive structure best focuses light over a relatively narrow cone of incident angles, and provides suboptimal focusing for incident angles outside that cone. Different diffractive structures best focus different angular ranges, with the patchwork thus providing an overall focusable response for the relatively broad range of angles required to image a scene. Images can be captured without a lens, and cameras can be made smaller than those that are reliant on lenses and ray-optical focusing.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An imaging device comprising:
-
an array of photoelements; and adjacent and dissimilar diffractive structures overlying the array and each having an area at least 10 times the area of one of the photoelements, each diffractive structure best focusing light onto the array of photoelements over a respective different range of incident angles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A photosensor to sense incident light over a range of incident angles, the photosensor comprising:
-
an array of photoelements; and overlapping diffractive structures each best focusing light onto the array of photoelements over a respective cone of incident angles, each cone covering a different portion of the range of incident angles and having a given eccentricity. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. An imaging device comprising:
-
an array of photoelements; and a diffractive structure overlying the array and comprising at least one of a group of diffractive structures that each best focus light over a respective different range of incident angles, and a phase antisymmetric grating that best focuses light into a collection of curved and/or straight linear segments; and a first aperture spaced from the array of photoelements to constrain light reaching the array of photoelements substantially to light passing through the diffractive structure. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
Specification