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This work provides the design of a multifocal display that can create a dense stack of focal planes in a single shot. We achieve this using a novel computational lens that provides spatial selectivity in its focal length, i.e, the lens appears to have different focal lengths across points on a display behind it. This enables a multifocal display via an appropriate selection of the spatially-varying focal length, thereby avoiding time multiplexing techniques that are associated with traditional focus tunable lenses. The idea central to this design is a modification of a Lohmann lens, a focus tunable lens created with two cubic phase plates that translate relative to each other. Using optical relays and a phase spatial light modulator, we replace the physical translation of the cubic plates with an optical one, while simultaneously allowing for different pixels on the display to undergo different amounts of translations and, consequently, different focal lengths. We refer to this design as a Split-Lohmann multifocal display. Split-Lohmann displays provide a large étendue as well as high spatial and depth resolutions; the absence of time multiplexing and the extremely light computational footprint for content processing makes it suitable for video and interactive experiences. Using a lab prototype, we show results over a wide range of static, dynamic, and interactive 3D scenes, showcasing high visual quality over a large working range. 

One of the open challenges in lensless imaging is understanding how well they resolve scenes in three dimensions. The measurement model underlying prior lensless imagers lacks special structures that facilitate deeper analysis; thus, a theoretical study of the achievable spatio-axial resolution has been lacking. This paper provides such a theoretical framework by analyzing a generalization of a mask-based lensless camera, where the sensor captures z-stacked measurements acquired by moving the sensor relative to an attenuating mask. We show that the z-stacked measurements are related to the scene’s volumetric albedo function via a three-dimensional convolutional operator. The specifics of this convolution, and its Fourier transform, allow us to fully characterize the spatial and axial resolving power of the camera, including its dependence on the mask. Since z-stacked measurements are a superset of those made by previously-studied lensless systems, these results provide an upper bound for their performance. We numerically evaluate the theory and its implications using simulations.

 

We exploit memory effect correlations in speckles for the imaging of incoherent fluorescent sources behind scattering tissue. These correlations are often weak when imaging thick scattering tissues and complex illumination patterns, both of which greatly limit the practicality of associated techniques. In this work, we introduce a spatial light modulator between the tissue sample and the imaging sensor and capture multiple modulations of the speckle pattern. We show that by correctly designing the modulation patterns and the associated reconstruction algorithm, statistical correlations in the measurements can be greatly enhanced. We exploit this to demonstrate the reconstruction of mega-pixel sized fluorescent patterns behind the scattering tissue.