Method and apparatus for determining the phase and/or amplitude information of an electromagnetic wave for photomixing
First Claim
1. A method of determining the phase and/or amplitude information of an electromagnetic wavein which an electromagnetic wave is radiated onto the surface of a photonic mixing element having at least one pixel, wherein the pixel has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates Gam and Gbm and associated accumulation gates Ga and Gb,in which there are applied to the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo−
- Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,wherein applied to the accumulation gates Ga and Gb is a dc voltage whose magnitude is at least as great as the magnitude of the sum of Uo and the amplitude of the modulation voltage Um(t),in which charge carriers produced in a space charge zone of the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm by the electromagnetic wave are exposed to a potential gradient of a drift field in dependence on the polarity of the modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) and drift to the corresponding accumulation gate Ga and Gb,in which charges qa and qb which have drifted to the respective accumulation gates Ga and Gb are taken off, andwherein the phase and amplitude information is directly computed in an electronic pixel reading-out and signal pre-processing system which is integrated on a chip containing said photonic mixing element.
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Abstract
A method and corresponding device for determining the phase and/or amplitude data of an electromagnetic wave. The method comprises the steps: beaming an electromagnetic wave onto the surface of at least one pixel having at least two light sensitive modulation gates Gam, Gbm and associated accumulation gates Ga and Gb, applying modulation voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) to gates Gam and Gbm, applying a direct voltage to accumulation gates Ga and Gb, wherein the charge carriers produced in modulation gates Gam and Gbm by the incident electromagnetic wave being subjected to a potential gradient due to the modulation voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t), thereby drifting to the corresponding accumulation gate Ga or Gb, and forwarding the charge carriers to evaluation electronics. A plurality of corresponding pixels can be assembled to form an array.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of determining the phase and/or amplitude information of an electromagnetic wave
in which an electromagnetic wave is radiated onto the surface of a photonic mixing element having at least one pixel, wherein the pixel has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates Gam and Gbm and associated accumulation gates Ga and Gb, in which there are applied to the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo− - Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
wherein applied to the accumulation gates Ga and Gb is a dc voltage whose magnitude is at least as great as the magnitude of the sum of Uo and the amplitude of the modulation voltage Um(t), in which charge carriers produced in a space charge zone of the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm by the electromagnetic wave are exposed to a potential gradient of a drift field in dependence on the polarity of the modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) and drift to the corresponding accumulation gate Ga and Gb, in which charges qa and qb which have drifted to the respective accumulation gates Ga and Gb are taken off, and wherein the phase and amplitude information is directly computed in an electronic pixel reading-out and signal pre-processing system which is integrated on a chip containing said photonic mixing element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
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8. A method of determining the phase and/or amplitude information of an electromagnetic wave
in which an electromagnetic wave is radiated onto the surface of a photonic mixing element having a plurality of pixels, wherein each of the pixels has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates Gam and Gbm and associated accumulation gates Ga and Gb, in which there are applied to the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo− - Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
wherein applied to the accumulation gates Ga and Gb is a dc voltage whose magnitude is at least as great as the magnitude of the sum of Uo and the amplitude of the modulation voltage Um(t), in which charge carriers produced in a space charge zone of the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm by the electromagnetic wave are exposed to a potential gradient of a drift field in dependence on the polarity of the modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) and drift to the corresponding accumulation gate Ga and Gb, in which charges qa and qb which have drifted to the respective accumulation gates Ga and Gb are taken off, wherein a plurality of the pixels are arranged as a 3D-line or matrix camera, which is combined with a conventional 2D-camera, and wherein spectral allocation and feed of an active modulated illumination component to the 3D-camera and of other unmodulated illumination components is effected by a beam splitter. - View Dependent Claims (9)
- Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
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10. A photonic mixing element
with at least one pixel (1), which has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates (Gam, Gbm) comprising terminals for and adapted to receive modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo− - Um(t),
accumulation gates (Ga, Gb) which are associated with the modulation photogates (Gam, Gbm) and which are shaded relative to an incident electromagnetic wave, wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates (Ga, Gb) and Um(t) represents modulation voltage, and wherein an electronic pixel reading-out and signal pre-processing system is associated with a chip containing said pixel. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
- Um(t),
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14. A 3D-camera comprising an apparatus for determining phase information of an electromagnetic wave, the apparatus
having at least one photonic mixing element comprising: -
at least one pixel (1), which has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates (Gam, Gbm) comprising terminals for and adapted to receive modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo−
Um(t),accumulation gates (Ga, Gb) which are associated with the modulation photogates (Gam, Gbm) and which are shaded relative to an incident electromagnetic wave, wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb, and having a modulation generator (10, 13), and having a transmitter (4) that irradiates the electromagnetic wave which is intensity-modulated by the modulation generator (10, 13) in predetermined manner, wherein the electromagnetic wave which is reflected by an object (6) is radiated onto the surface of the photonic mixing element, and wherein the modulation generator (10, 13) supplies the photonic mixing element with modulation voltages Um(t) which are in a predetermined phase relationship with respect to the phase of the electromagnetic wave that is irradiated from the transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A method of determining the phase and/or amplitude information of an electromagnetic wave
in which an electromagnetic wave is radiated onto the surface of a photonic mixing element having at least one pixel, wherein the pixel has at least two light-sensitive modulation photogates Gam and Gbm and associated accumulation gates Ga and Gb, in which there are applied to the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) which are in the form of Uam(t)=Uo+Um(t) and Ubm(t)=Uo− - Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
wherein applied to the accumulation gates Ga and Gb is a dc voltage whose magnitude is at least as great as the magnitude of the sum of Uo and the amplitude of the modulation voltage Um(t), in which charge carriers produced in a space charge zone of the modulation photogates Gam and Gbm by the electromagnetic wave are exposed to a potential gradient of a drift field in dependence on the polarity of the modulation photogate voltages Uam(t) and Ubm(t) and drift to the corresponding accumulation gate Ga and Gb, in which charges qa and qb which have drifted to the respective accumulation gates Ga and Gb are taken off, and wherein illumination of a scene is provided with modulated light from different spectral regions in order to obtain different color components of a resulting image for reconstructing a complete color image together with spatial depth information.
- Um(t), wherein Uo represents a bias voltage of the accumulation gates Ga and Gb,
Specification