Tailored fractional vortex beams for incoherent imaging and deconvolution

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Image Reconstruction
• Diffraction Engineering

Background:

• Incoherent imaging faces resolution challenges due to diffraction-limited point-spread functions (PSFs).
• Existing methods struggle with complex PSFs generated by novel optical elements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate engineered PSFs using novel fractional vortex phase masks for incoherent imaging.
• To develop and validate a robust reconstruction algorithm for these complex PSFs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized anomalous multiramp and elliptical fractional vortex phase plates to engineer PSFs.
• Developed a frequency-regularized nonlinear reconstruction (FR-NLR) algorithm incorporating spectral priors.
• Performed quantitative and qualitative evaluations against existing reconstruction methods.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated flexible PSF shaping via fractional topological charge, ramp geometry, and ellipticity.
• FR-NLR algorithm showed enhanced stability and superior performance compared to NLR, Lucy-Richardson-Rosen, and Wiener deconvolution.
• Achieved compact, high-fidelity, robust, and scan-free incoherent imaging.

Conclusions:

• Engineered PSFs offer novel capabilities for spatial encoding and depth discrimination in incoherent imaging.
• The proposed FR-NLR algorithm effectively addresses reconstruction challenges, enabling high-quality imaging.
• This work advances incoherent imaging techniques through advanced PSF engineering and reconstruction algorithms.