Glare Suppression via Optical Phase Conjugation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for seeing through fog and scattering media, such as real-time holography systems, are limited by low resolution, short imaging distance, and slow operating speed, and fail to effectively suppress glare, which hampers clear navigation in automotive, aeronautical, and military applications.
Innovation Solution
The method involves irradiating a scattering medium and an object behind it with electromagnetic radiation, receiving the backscattered and imaging radiation, and digitally adjusting the phase or amplitude of reference radiation to destructively interfere with the backscattered radiation, using techniques like phase conjugation or coherence gated negation to suppress glare and improve visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If real-time holography systems are used to see through fog, then imaging capability is improved, but resolution remains low and operating speed is slow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separately processes the backscattered light component from the total received light signal. By using optical phase conjugation, the system identifies and isolates the glare component caused by backscattering, then applies destructive interference specifically to this extracted component, leaving the useful imaging information intact and enhanced.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the phase parameter of the reference beam through optical phase conjugation to match and oppose the phase of backscattered light. By dynamically adjusting the phase parameter of the cancellation beam, the system achieves destructive interference specifically targeted at glare while maintaining constructive interference for useful signals.
2Reliability
If real-time holography systems are used to see through fog, then imaging capability is improved, but operating speed becomes slow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical real-time holography systems with an optical phase conjugation-based glare cancellation system. This substitution uses optical field processing and interference phenomena to achieve real-time glare suppression without the computational and mechanical complexity of traditional holography, thereby improving operating speed.
3Illumination intensity
If conventional methods are used to illuminate through scattering medium, then visibility is reduced, but glare is created that hampers clear navigation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful backscattered light (glare) into a useful component for cancellation. By using a portion of the backscattered light itself as the reference beam for optical phase conjugation, the system creates a cancellation beam that precisely matches the glare's amplitude and phase, enabling complete destructive interference and effective glare suppression.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an optical phase conjugation device as an intermediary between the illumination source and the detection system. This intermediary processes the light field, creating a phase-conjugated reference beam that mediates the interference between useful imaging light and harmful backscattered glare, enabling selective cancellation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively reduces glare, allowing for clearer imaging through scattering media by destructively interfering with backscattered radiation, thereby enhancing the visibility of objects within the medium, even in conditions where conventional methods fail.
Implementation Method 1
the reference radiation destructively interferes with the backscattered radiation on the one or more sensor pixels
Implementation Method 2
Glare suppression through fog by optical phase conjugation assisted active cancellation
Data Source
AI summary
A method of imaging an object on one or more sensor pixels and with reduced glare. The method includes irradiating a scattering medium and the object behind the scattering medium, creating backscattered radiation and imaging radiation that are received on the one or more pixels. The method includes digitally adjusting a phase, an amplitude, or a phase and amplitude, of reference radiation transmitted onto the one or more sensor pixels, wherein the reference radiation destructively interferes with the backscattered radiation (glare) on the one or more sensor pixels while the object is imaged on the one or more sensor pixels using the imaging radiation.