Planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) systems
First Claim
1. A planar laser illumination and imaging system for illuminating an object and forming an image thereof, said planar laser illumination and imaging system comprising:
- an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array; and
a planar laser illumination array (PLIA) constructed from an plurality of planar laser illumination modules (PLIMs) arranged in rectilinear manner, wherein each said PLIM comprises a visible laser diode (VLD), a focusing lens, and a cylindrical optical element arranged therewith to produce a planar laser illumination beam component; and
wherein said individual planar laser illumination beam components produced from said plurality of PLIMs are optically combined to produce a composite substantially planar laser illumination beam having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of said image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by said composite substantially planar laser illumination beam is focused along said field of view and onto said image detecting array to form an image of said illuminated object.
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Abstract
A planar laser illumination and imaging system for illuminating an object and forming an image thereof. The planar laser illumination and imaging system which comprises an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array. A planar laser illumination array (PLIA) constructed from an plurality of planar laser illumination modules (PLIMs) is arranged in rectilinear manner. Each planar laser illumination module comprises a visible laser diode (VLD), a focusing lens, and a cylindrical optical element arranged therewith to produce a planar laser illumination beam component; and wherein the individual planar laser illumination beam components produced from the plurality of planar laser illumination modules are optically combined to produce a composite substantially planar laser illumination beam having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of the image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by the planar laser illumination beam is focused along the field of view and onto the image detecting array to form an image of the illuminated object.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A planar laser illumination and imaging system for illuminating an object and forming an image thereof, said planar laser illumination and imaging system comprising:
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an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array; and
a planar laser illumination array (PLIA) constructed from an plurality of planar laser illumination modules (PLIMs) arranged in rectilinear manner, wherein each said PLIM comprises a visible laser diode (VLD), a focusing lens, and a cylindrical optical element arranged therewith to produce a planar laser illumination beam component; and
wherein said individual planar laser illumination beam components produced from said plurality of PLIMs are optically combined to produce a composite substantially planar laser illumination beam having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of said image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by said composite substantially planar laser illumination beam is focused along said field of view and onto said image detecting array to form an image of said illuminated object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based system with automatic laser beam power density compensation, said PLIIM based system comprising:
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an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array; and
a planar laser illumination array (PLIA) for producing a planar laser illumination beam (PLIB) having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of said image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by said planar laser illumination beam is focused along said field of view and onto said image detecting array to form an image of said illuminated object;
wherein said planar laser illumination beam has a beam width which increases as a function of increasing object distance in said PLIIM based system; and
wherein the height of said planar laser illumination beam decreases as the object distance increases, compensating for the increase in beam width in said planar laser illumination beam which occurs for an increase in object distance, thereby yielding a laser beam power density on the target object which increases as a function of increasing object distance over a substantial portion of the object distance range of said PLIIM based system. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A PLIIM based system having near and far field regions, comprising:
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a planar laser illumination array (PLIA) having a plurality of visible laser diodes (VLDs), wherein the power density contributions of the individual visible laser diodes in the planar laser illumination array are additively combined to produce a planar laser illumination beam (PLIB) having substantially uniform power density characteristics in the near and far field regions of the system.
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12. A method of illuminating an object and forming an image thereof, comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array within a system; and
(b) producing a planar laser illumination beam having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through said field of view (FOV) so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by said planar laser illumination beam is focused along said field of view and onto said image detecting array to form an image of said illuminated object. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
producing a plurality of laser beams from a plurality of visible laser diodes (VLDs);
focusing each said laser beam through a focusing lens, and expanding the focused laser beam through a cylindrical optical element so as to produce a substantially planar laser illumination beam component; and
optically combining the plurality of planar laser illumination beam components produce a composite substantially planar laser illumination beam having substantially uniform power density characteristics over the entire spatial extent thereof and thus the working range of the system.
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14. The method of claim 13, said FOV is provided by imaging optics, and wherein each planar laser illumination beam component is focused so that the minimum beam width thereof occurs at a point or plane which is the farthest or maximum object distance at which the system is designed to acquire images, thereby compensating for decreases in the power density of the incident planar laser illumination beam due to the fact that the width of the planar laser illumination beam increases in length for increasing object distances away from the imaging optics.
Specification