Digitally directed beams for three-dimensional surface reconstruction using a dynamical filter.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Computer Vision
• Metrology

Background:

• Accurate three-dimensional (3D) shape reconstruction is crucial for various scientific and engineering applications.
• Traditional methods often face limitations in resolution, speed, or complexity.
• The need for non-contact, high-precision 3D measurement techniques persists.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel 3D reconstruction method using digitally controlled illumination.
• To demonstrate the capability of reconstructing surface geometry from reflected light.
• To achieve high-precision 3D surface profiling at the micro-scale.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an imaging system with digitally directed illumination beams generated via a digital micromirror device (DMD).
• Employed the law of regular reflection to determine surface normals from varied illumination directions.
• Reconstructed the 3D surface shape using an inverse matrix method.

Main Results:

• Successfully obtained surface normals by analyzing reflections from dynamically altered illumination beams.
• Reconstructed the 3D shape of a test object, a cone with a 37 µm apex height.
• Experimental validation confirmed the efficacy of the proposed 3D reconstruction technique.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a precise and digitally controllable approach for 3D surface reconstruction.
• The use of a DMD for directed illumination enables flexible and accurate surface normal determination.
• This technique shows potential for micro-scale 3D metrology and imaging applications.