234 results about "Pixel detector" patented technology

An RGB-Z sensor is implementable on a single IC chip. A beam splitter such as a hot mirror receives and separates incoming first and second spectral band optical energy from a target object into preferably RGB image components and preferably NIR Z components. The RGB image and Z components are detected by respective RGB and NIR pixel detector array regions, which output respective image data and Z data. The pixel size and array resolutions of these regions need not be equal, and both array regions may be formed on a common IC chip. A display using the image data can be augmented with Z data to help recognize a target object. The resultant structure combines optical efficiency of beam splitting with the simplicity of a single IC chip implementation. A method of using the single chip red, green, blue, distance (RGB-Z) sensor is also disclosed.

Effective differential dynamic range and common mode rejection in a differential pixel detector are enhanced by capturing and isolating differential detector charge output before using common mode reset to avoid detector saturation due to common mode components of optical energy to be detected. Differential charge is stored into an integration capacitor associated with an operational amplifier coupled to receive as input the differential detector outputs. Common mode reset is achieved by resetting storage capacitors coupled to the outputs of the differential detector at least once within an integration time T before storage potential exceeds a saturation voltage V_sat for the photodetector.

New sensors, pixel detectors and different embodiments of multi-channel integrated circuit are disclosed. The new high energy and spatial resolution sensors use solid state detectors. Each channel or pixel of the readout chip employs low noise preamplifier at its input followed by other circuitry. The different embodiments of the sensors, detectors and the integrated circuit are designed to produce high energy and/or spatial resolution two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging for different applications. Some of these applications may require fast data acquisition, some others may need ultra high energy resolution, and a separate portion may require very high contrast. The embodiments described herein addresses these issues and also other issues that may be useful in two and three dimensional medical and industrial imaging. The applications of the new sensors, detectors and integrated circuits addresses a broad range of applications such as medical and industrial imaging, NDE and NDI, security, baggage scanning, astrophysics, nuclear physics and medicine.

Performance of pixel detectors in a TOF imaging system is dynamically adjusted to improve dynamic range to maximize the number of pixel detectors that output valid data. The invention traverses the system-acquired z depth, the brightness, and the active brightness images, and assigns each pixel a quantized value. Quantization values encompass pixels receiving too little light, normal light, to too much light. Pixels are grouped into quantized category groups, whose populations are represented by a histogram. If the number of pixels in the normal category exceeds a threshold, no immediate corrective action is taken. If the number of pixel receiving too little (or too much) light exceeds those receiving too much (or too little) light, the invention commands at least one system parameter change to increase (or decrease) light reaching the pixels. Controllable TOF system parameters can include exposure time, common mode resets, video gain, among others.

The invention discloses a single-pixel terahertz holographic imaging device and method. Monochromatic terahertz light emitted by a terahertz laser source is transformed into parallel light with larger beamwidth by a beam expander device, and then divided into object light and reference light through a beam splitter; the object light is encoded by a modulation device in airspace after irradiating an object; the reference light passes through an adjustable phase shifter on the light path after being reflected by a plane mirror; the object light is converged with the reference light on a second beam splitter after being reflected by the plane mirror, enters a single-pixel detector at the focus point of a condenser lens after being converged by the condenser lens; a signal output by the single-pixel detector is fed to a control module to carry out image reconstruction; and terahertz holographic compression sensing imaging of the object is achieved by changing combination of a space code on the modulation device and a phase on the adjustable phase shifter for a plurality of times. The single-pixel terahertz holographic imaging device and method have the advantages that real three-dimensional imaging of the tested object is achieved by combining phase-shifting digital holography with a compression sensing principle, and the single-pixel terahertz holographic imaging device and method are pioneering inventions in the field of terahertz imaging.

A preferred method for transmission electron microscopy includes a step of generating a microscopy signal. The microscopy signal is then detected with an active pixel detector that includes a plurality of pixels. Each of the pixels includes at least one photodiode. Each pixel integrates an incident signal over a collection time period. Using a massibel parallel on chip analog to digital conversion, very fast read out times can be achieved, e.g., many frames per second. In a preferred embodiment, the read out time permits there to be a single electron event recorded per pixel, indicating either a single electron or the lack thereof. This permits simple accumulation of the pixel counts for each pixel in read-out and storage electronics.

A ganged-detector pixel cell is used in a device having an array of such pixel cells to construct an x-ray and gamma-ray radiation energy imaging device. The ganged-detector pixel cell comprises a detector pixel array of two or more detectors pixels disposed on a semiconductor detector substrate. The detector pixels of the pixel array are in electrical communication with a single pixel signal counting circuit disposed on an adjacent ASIC readout substrate. The ganged-detector pixel cell has a Ratio of Correspondence (RC) between of the number of pixel detectors to the single pixel signal counting circuits in the cell of RC≧1. In practice, the Ratio of Correspondence between of the number of pixel detectors to the single pixel signal counting circuits in a pixel cell is RC≧2.

Effective differential dynamic range in a differential pixel detector is increased by avoiding saturation effects due to common mode contribution in optical energy to be detected. Photocurrent generated by each photodetector pair is directly integrated by an associated capacitor over an integration time T. Within time T, before either integrated capacitor voltage reaches V_sat for the photodetector, at least one of the capacitors is reset to a voltage such that the desired differential detector signal is still determinable. Reset may be generated externally or internally to the differential pixel detector.

A semiconductor radiation imaging device includes an array of pixel cells having an array of pixel detectors which directly generate charge in response to incident radiation and a corresponding array of individually-addressable pixel circuits. Each pixel circuit is associated with a respective pixel detector for accumulating charge directly resulting from radiation incident on the pixel detector and includes threshold circuitry and charge accumulation circuitry. The threshold circuitry is configured to discard radiation hits on the pixel detector outside a predetermined threshold range, and the charge accumulation circuit is configured to accumulate charge directly resulting from a plurality of successive radiation hits on the respective pixel detector within the predetermined threshold range.

An object locating system detects the presence of an object as it passes through a planar fields of view. A pair of optical sensor arrays with multiple, directed, pixel detectors observe the object from two angles as the object passes through the field of view. The location of penetration of the field of view is calculated by triangulation. Using this data, the known location of the take-off point and/or the delay between the departure of an object from the known take-off point and the penetration of the field of view, the trajectory of the object in time and space is calculated. In an alternate embodiment, the take-off point is not known and a plurality of pairs of optical sensor arrays may measure the trajectory of an object as it travels between a launch location and a target location. Applications include projecting the range of a driven golf ball, measuring the respective arriving and departing velocities of a hit baseball, determining the trajectory of a baseball, and determining the trajectory and origin of an arriving projectile, as in the case of the threat to a military vehicle.

An optical imaging method using a single-pixel detector. An image of a target object is expressed by using discrete pixels, and the size of the image is M×N pixels. A cosine structured light field generator is used for generating a series of light fields that have different frequencies and are distributed according to cosine, wherein each set of frequencies corresponds to at least three different initial phase φ values; the light fields with cosine distribution that have different frequencies and different initial phases are used to sequentially irradiate the target object; an optical detector (2) is used for sequentially receiving light intensity signals from the target object and then response values of the optical detector (2) are sequentially collected and recorded; An image reconstruction algorithm is established on the basis of the light fields, the number of measurements can be greatly reduced, and a high-quality reconstructed image can be obtained.

A hybrid pixel detector structure including a plurality of detector entities, each detector entity including at least one read-out element, such as a read-out ASIC, and an overlapping substantially edgeless radiation sensitive detector volume, these two being electrically coupled utilizing a number of conductive elements in between, further including a substrate, such as a circuit board, or multiple substrates such as one per detector entity, for accommodating the plurality of detector entities, wherein the substantially edgeless detector volume of at least one detector entity of the plurality includes an overhang portion outside the overlap between the detector volume and the read-out element, and the read-out element of at least one other detector entity of the plurality includes an extension portion, also outside the overlap, with a number of electrical coupling elements to electrically couple to the substrate, such as conductors and/or electronics thereof. A corresponding method of manufacture is presented.

It is an object to encode an image signal or a shape signal more efficiently than the prior art. As a means to accomplish the object, the change pixel detector 2 receives the input signal 1 as an input signal and detects the pixel which changes the two-valued pixel value. Further, the change pixel predictor 4 also reads out the reference image stored in the memory 3, and predicts the change pixel of the particular input signal. The difference value calculator 5 subtracts the output of the change pixel predictor 4 from the output of the change pixel detector 2. The difference value rounder 7 compares the tolerance value e and the prediction error D, and outputs x which requires the minimum bit number for being encoded in the value D-e<=x<=D+e. The output of the difference value rounder 7 is encoded by the decoder 8 to become the encoded signal 9. Also, the output of the difference value rounder 7 is added in the difference value adder 11 to the predicted pixel 4 of the predicted pixel predictor 4, whereby the change pixel is calculated, and in the change pixel decoder 10, the respective pixels from the already decoded pixel indicated by the change pixel predictor 4 to the change pixel is decoded to be stored in the memory 3.