Fast Inline Microscopic Computational Imaging

Inline inspection is becoming an essential tool for industrial high-quality production. Unfortunately, the desired acquisition speeds and needs for high-precision imaging are often at the limit of what is physically possible, such as a large field of view at a high spatial resolution. In this paper, a novel light-field and photometry system is presented that addresses this trade off by combining microscopic imaging with special projection optics to generate a parallax effect. This inline microscopic system, together with an image processing pipeline, delivers high-resolution 3D images at high speeds, by using a lateral transport stage changing the optical perspective. Scanning speeds of up to 12 mm/s can be achieved at a depth resolution of 2.8 μm and a lateral sampling of 700 nm/pixel, suitable for inspection in high-quality manufacturing industry.