Showing papers on "Speckle imaging published in 2011"

Speckle Camera Observations for the NASA Kepler Mission Follow-up Program

Abstract: We present the first results from a speckle imaging survey of stars classified as candidate exoplanet host stars discovered by the Kepler mission. We use speckle imaging to search for faint companions or closely aligned background stars that could contribute flux to the Kepler light curves of their brighter neighbors. Background stars are expected to contribute significantly to the pool of false positive candidate transiting exoplanets discovered by the Kepler mission, especially in the case that the faint neighbors are eclipsing binary stars. Here, we describe our Kepler follow-up observing program, the speckle imaging camera used, our data reduction, and astrometric and photometric performance. Kepler stars range from R = 8 to 16 and our observations attempt to provide background non-detection limits 5-6 mag fainter and binary separations of ~0.05-2.0 arcsec. We present data describing the relative brightness, separation, and position angles for secondary sources, as well as relative plate limits for non-detection of faint nearby stars around each of 156 target stars. Faint neighbors were found near 10 of the stars.

Full-field and single-shot quantitative phase microscopy using dynamic speckle illumination

Abstract: We developed an off-axis quantitative phase microscopy that works for a light source with an extremely short spatial coherence length in order to reduce the diffraction noise and enhance the spatial resolution. A dynamic speckle wave whose coherence length is 440 nm was used as an illumination source. To implement an off-axis interferometry for a source of low spatial coherence, a diffraction grating was inserted in the reference beam path. In doing so, an oblique illumination was generated without rotation of the wavefront, which leads to a full-field and single-shot phase recording with improved phase sensitivity of more than a factor of 10 in comparison with coherent illumination. The spatial resolution, both laterally and axially, and the depth selectivity are significantly enhanced due to the wide angular spectrum of the speckle wave. We applied our method to image the dynamics of small intracellular particles in live biological cells. With enhanced phase sensitivity and speed, the proposed method will serve as a useful tool to study the dynamics of biological specimens.

Correction for spatial averaging in laser speckle contrast analysis

Abstract: Practical laser speckle contrast analysis systems face a problem of spatial averaging of speckles, due to the pixel size in the cameras used. Existing practice is to use a system factor in speckle contrast analysis to account for spatial averaging. The linearity of the system factor correction has not previously been confirmed. The problem of spatial averaging is illustrated using computer simulation of time-integrated dynamic speckle, and the linearity of the correction confirmed using both computer simulation and experimental results. The valid linear correction allows various useful compromises in the system design.

Speckle imaging of spin fluctuations in a strongly interacting Fermi gas.

Abstract: Spin fluctuations and density fluctuations are studied for a two-component gas of strongly interacting fermions along the Bose-Einstein condensate-BCS crossover. This is done by in situ imaging of dispersive speckle patterns. Compressibility and magnetic susceptibility are determined from the measured fluctuations. This new sensitive method easily resolves a tenfold suppression of spin fluctuations below shot noise due to pairing, and can be applied to novel magnetic phases in optical lattices.

Adaptive noise reduction method for DSPI fringes based on bi-dimensional ensemble empirical mode decomposition

Abstract: Digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) fringes contain low spatial information degraded with speckle noise and background intensity. The denoising technique proposed recently based on bi-dimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) could implement noise reduction adaptively. However, the major drawback of BEMD, called mode mixing, has affected its practical application. With noise-assisted data analysis (NADA) method, bi-dimensional ensemble empirical mode decomposition (BEEMD) was proposed, which has solved the problem of mode mixing. The denoising approach based on BEEMD will be presented, compared with other classic denoising methods and evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively using computer-simulated and experimental DSPI fringes.

Online Multi-frame Blind Deconvolution with Super-resolution and Saturation Correction

Abstract: Astronomical images taken by ground-based telescopes suffer degradation due to atmospheric turbulence. This degradation can be tackled by costly hardware-based approaches such as adaptive optics, or by sophisticated software-based methods such as lucky imaging, speckle imaging, or multi-frame deconvolution. Software-based methods process a sequence of images to reconstruct a deblurred high-quality image. However, existing approaches are limited in one or several aspects: (i) they process all images in batch mode, which for thousands of images is prohibitive; (ii) they do not reconstruct a super-resolved image, even though an image sequence often contains enough information; (iii) they are unable to deal with saturated pixels; and (iv) they are usually non-blind, i.e., they assume the blur kernels to be known. In this paper we present a new method for multi-frame deconvolution called online blind deconvolution (OBD) that overcomes all these limitations simultaneously. Encouraging results on simulated and real astronomical images demonstrate that OBD yields deblurred images of comparable and often better quality than existing approaches.

A simultaneous in- and out-of-plane displacement measurement method.

Abstract: A method is presented that allows real-time three-dimensional displacement maps to be obtained for deformable objects using a single color camera and a color fringe projector. The acquired images have speckle and fringe information embedded in them, which are separated using the R, G, and B color signals from a color CCD camera to permit the independent use of a two-dimensional digital image correlation to obtain the x- and y-direction displacements and fringe projection to obtain the displacement in the z direction.

Observations of binary stars with the differential speckle survey instrument. iii. measures below the diffraction limit of the wiyn telescope

Abstract: In this paper, we study the ability of CCD- and electron-multiplying-CCD-based speckle imaging to obtain reliable astrometry and photometry of binary stars below the diffraction limit of the WIYN 3.5 m Telescope. We present a total of 120 measures of binary stars, 75 of which are below the diffraction limit. The measures are divided into two groups that have different measurement accuracy and precision. The first group is composed of standard speckle observations, that is, a sequence of speckle images taken in a single filter, while the second group consists of paired observations where the two observations are taken on the same observing run and in different filters. The more recent paired observations were taken simultaneously with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument, which is a two-channel speckle imaging system. In comparing our results to the ephemeris positions of binaries with known orbits, we find that paired observations provide the opportunity to identify cases of systematic error in separation below the diffraction limit and after removing these from consideration, we obtain a linear measurement uncertainty of 3-4 mas. However, if observations are unpaired or if two observations taken in the same filter are paired, it becomes harder to identify cases of systematic error, presumably because the largest source of this error is residual atmospheric dispersion, which is color dependent. When observations are unpaired, we find that it is unwise to report separations below approximately 20 mas, as these are most susceptible to this effect. Using the final results obtained, we are able to update two older orbits in the literature and present preliminary orbits for three systems that were discovered by Hipparcos.

Know the star, know the planet. ii. speckle interferometry of exoplanet host stars

Abstract: A study of the host stars to exoplanets is important for understanding their environment. To that end, we report new speckle observations of a sample of exoplanet host primaries. The bright exoplanet host HD 8673 (= HIP 6702) is revealed to have a companion, although at this time we cannot definitively establish the companion as physical or optical. The observing lists for planet searches and for these observations have for the most part been pre-screened for known duplicity, so the detected binary fraction is lower than what would otherwise be expected. Therefore, a large number of double stars were observed contemporaneously for verification and quality control purposes, to ensure that the lack of detection of companions for exoplanet hosts was valid. In these additional observations, 10 pairs are resolved for the first time and 60 pairs are confirmed. These observations were obtained with the USNO speckle camera on the NOAO 4 m telescopes at both KPNO and CTIO from 2001 to 2010.

Spectroscopic-speckle variance OCT for microvasculature detection and analysis.

Abstract: We propose and studied optical coherence tomography (OCT) combining spectroscopic (SOCT) and speckle variance (svOCT) functions to effectively detect locations of microvasculatures and assess blood oxygen saturation level. Chorioallantoic membrane of a chick embryo was imaged in vivo to perform the analysis of the system. We also studied the effect of speckle in spectral domain using experimental data and performed time-averaging to reduce speckle noise locally. We combined SOCT and svOCT images using hue, saturation and value (HSV) color map to show the localized spectroscopic property of blood. Results show distinct spectroscopic properties between arterial blood and capillary blood.

Speckle suppression in holographic projection displays using temporal integration of speckle images from diffractive optical elements

Abstract: Speckles on images in holographic projection displays (HPDs) were efficiently suppressed by the temporal sum of two diffractive images generated from diffractive optical elements (DOEs). Using a modified iterative Fourier transform algorithm, we obtained pairs of phase-only DOEs that generated the diffractive images with high negative correlation coefficients of -0.827 and -0.490 in the one-dimensional and the two-dimensional simulations, respectively. The suppression ratios of the speckles in the two simulations were 0.301 and 0.457, which were 61% and 35% lower, respectively, than the sum of the two uncorrelated images. We have successfully demonstrated that the sum of two negatively correlated images from DOEs can effectively reduce the image speckles and improve the image quality in HPD systems.

Localized Fourier transform filter for noise removal in electronic speckle pattern interferometry wrapped phase patterns

Abstract: This article is concerned with frequency filtering for electronic speckle pattern interferometry wrapped phase patterns. We propose a robust localized Fourier transform filter which is an extension of the root filtering method (RFM). We improve the RFM from a simple technical process and a filter function in the frequency domain. In our method, the proposed filter function is taken as the power spectrum of the convolution of an image and a Gaussian function to the power α. We test the proposed method on two computer-simulated wrapped phase fringe patterns and one experimentally obtained wrapped phase pattern, and compare our models with the widely used, well-known RFM and windowed Fourier filtering (WFF). The experimental results have demonstrated that our localized Fourier transform filter outperforms the RFM and is comparable to WFF. Our method depends on fewer parameters, as compared with WFF, and can achieve a better balance between the computational complexity and the filtered results.

Measurement of nano/micro out-of-plane and in-plane displacements of micromechanical components by using digital holography and speckle interferometry

Abstract: Optical techniques are well suited for the measurement of microcomponents but give accurate results only when calibrated systems are used. We present a strategy for the calibration of setups to be used for the measurements of microsystems. We develop, at first, standard reference devices whose out-of-plane and in-plane displacements are precisely reproducible when submitted to standard loadings. These reference devices have been manufactured and tested by optical techniques and may be used for the calibration of optical measuring systems. Furthermore, a detailed discussion of the measurement uncertainty, according to the ISO's "Guide of Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement," is given.

High-contrast optical imaging of companions: the case of the brown dwarf binary HD 130948BC

Abstract: Context. High-contrast imaging at optical wavelengths is limited by the modest correction of conventional near-IR optimized AO systems. We take advantage of new fast and low-readout-noise detectors to explore the potential of fast imaging coupled to post-processing techniques to detect faint companions of stars at small angular separations. Aims. We have focused on I -band direct imaging of the previously detected brown dwarf binary HD 130948 BC, attempting to spatially resolve the L2+L2 system considered as a benchmark for the determination of substellar objects dynamical masses. Methods. We used the lucky-imaging instrument FastCam at the 2.5-m Nordic Telescope to obtain quasi diffraction-limited images of HD 130948 with ~0.1′′ resolution. In order to improve the detectability of the faint binary in the vicinity of a bright (I = 5.19 ± 0.03) solar-type star, we implemented a post-processing technique based on wavelet transform filtering of the image, which allows us to strongly enhance the presence of point-like sources in regions where the primary halo generally dominates. Results. We detect for the first time the binary brown dwarf HD 130948 BC in the optical band I with a SNR ~9 at 2.561′′ ± 0.007′′ (46.5 AU) from HD 130948 A and confirm in two independent datasets (2008 May 29 and July 25) that the object is real, as opposed to time-varying residual speckles. We do not resolve the binary, which can be explained by astrometric results posterior to our observations, which predict a separation below the telescope resolution. We reach a contrast of ΔI = 11.30 ± 0.11 at this distance, and estimate a combined magnitude for this binary I = 16.49 ± 0.11 and a I − J color of 3.29 ± 0.13. At 1′′, we reach a detectability 10.5 mag fainter than the primary after image post-processing. Conclusions . We obtain on-sky validation of a technique based on speckle imaging and wavelet-transform post-processing, which improves the high-contrast capabilities of speckle imaging. The I − J color measured for the BD companion is slightly bluer, but still consistent with what is typically found for L2 dwarfs (~3.4–3.6).

Lensless digital holography with diffuse illumination through a pseudo-random phase mask

Abstract: Microscopic imaging with a setup consisting of a pseudo-random phase mask, and an open CMOS camera, without an imaging objective, is demonstrated. The pseudo random phase mask acts as a diffuser for an incoming laser beam, scattering a speckle pattern to a CMOS chip, which is recorded once as a reference. A sample which is afterwards inserted somewhere in the optical beam path changes the speckle pattern. A single (non-iterative) image processing step, comparing the modified speckle pattern with the previously recorded one, generates a sharp image of the sample. After a first calibration the method works in real-time and allows quantitative imaging of complex (amplitude and phase) samples in an extended three-dimensional volume. Since no lenses are used, the method is free from lens abberations. Compared to standard inline holography the diffuse sample illumination improves the axial sectioning capability by increasing the effective numerical aperture in the illumination path, and it suppresses the undesired so-called twin images. For demonstration, a high resolution spatial light modulator (SLM) is programmed to act as the pseudo-random phase mask. We show experimental results, imaging microscopic biological samples, e.g. insects, within an extended volume at a distance of 15 cm with a transverse and longitudinal resolution of about 60 μm and 400 μm, respectively.

Dynamic phase measurement in shearography by clustering method and Fourier filtering

Abstract: Quantitative phase extraction is a key step in optical measurement. While phase shifting technique is widely employed for static or semi-static phase measurement, it requires several images with known phase shifts at each deformed stage, thus is not suitable for dynamic phase measurement. Fourier transform offer a solution to extract phase information from a single fringe pattern. However, a high frequency spatial carrier which is sometimes not easy to generate is required to solve the phase ambiguity problem. In this paper, we aim to propose an ideal solution for dynamic phase measurement. Four images with known phase shift are captured at the reference stage to analyze the initial phase information. After the object starts continuous deformation, only one image is captured at each deformed stage. A clustering phase extraction method is then applied for deformation phase extraction utilizing the phase clustering effect within a small region. This method works well for speckle image with low and medium fringe density. When the fringe density is high, especially in the case of shearographic fringe, information insufficiency inherent with merely one deformed speckle image often results in poor quality wrapped phase map with plenty of phase residues, which make phase unwrapping a difficult task. In the light of this limitation, a Fourier transform based phase filtering method is proposed for fringe frequency analysis and adaptive filtering, and effectively removes most of the phase residues to reconstruct a high quality wrapped phase map. Several real experiments based on shearography are presented. Comparison between the proposed solution and standard phase evaluation methods is also given. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed integrated dynamic phase extraction method.

Quantitative determination of dynamical properties using coherent spatial frequency domain imaging

Abstract: Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is a fast, noninvasive method to obtain relative particle dynamics in highly light scattering media, such as biological tissue. To make quantitative measurements, we combine LSI with spatial frequency domain imaging, a technique where samples are illuminated with sinusoidal intensity patterns of light that control the characteristic path lengths of photons in the sample. We use both diffusion and radiative transport to predict the speckle contrast of coherent light remitted from turbid media. We validate our technique by measuring known Brownian diffusion coefficients (Db) of scattering liquid phantoms. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of radiative transport were found to provide the most accurate contrast predictions. For polystyrene microspheres of radius 800 nm in water, the expected and fit Db using radiative transport were 6.10E–07 and 7.10E–07 mm2/s, respectively. For polystyrene microspheres of radius 1026 nm in water, the expected and fit Db were 4.7E–07 and 5.35 mm2/s, respectively. For scattering particles in water–glycerin solutions, the fit fractional changes in Db with changes in viscosity were all found to be within 3% of the expected value.

Dynamic phase retrieval in temporal speckle pattern interferometry using least squares method and windowed Fourier filtering

Abstract: An algorithm for dynamic phase retrieval in temporal speckle pattern interferometry using least squares method and windowed Fourier filtering is proposed. The least squares method is used to evaluate the phase change between two speckle patterns provided that the phase of either one speckle pattern has been estimated. The windowed Fourier filtering is used to eliminate the noise in the phase change. Based on these two techniques, the proposed algorithm determines the phase of the initial speckle pattern by phase shifting method at first, then the phase of the rest speckle patterns are retrieved by sequentially evaluating the phase changes between every two consecutive speckle patterns. The algorithm solves the problem of speckle decorrelation by refreshing the reference image frame by frame, and also avoids the problem of error accumulation during the reference image refreshing process by the windowed Fourier filtering. Two experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm.

Improvement of speckle noise suppression in digital holography by rotating linear polarization state

Abstract: An improved polarization recording approach to reduce speckle noise in digital holography is proposed. Multiple off-axis holograms are obtained by rotating the linear polarization state of both illumination and reference wave simultaneously. By averaging the intensity fields, the speckle noise in the reconstructed images is well suppressed. Statistical evaluation of the experimental results shows the effectiveness and improvement of the proposed method.

Phase measurement in temporal speckle pattern interferometry signals presenting low-modulated regions by means of the bidimensional empirical mode decomposition.

Abstract: We propose a phase measurement technique to retrieve optical phase distributions coded in noisy temporal speckle pattern interferometry signals presenting regions of adjacent low-modulated pixels, which is based on the bidimensional empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert transform. It is shown that this approach can effectively remove noise and minimize the influence of large sets of adjacent nonmodulated pixels located in the time series of speckle interferograms. The performance of the phase retrieval approach is analyzed using computer-simulated speckle interferograms modulated with a temporal carrier. The results are also compared with those given by a technique based on the one-dimensional empirical mode decomposition. The advantages and limitations of the proposed approach are finally discussed.

Mechanical Characterization of SLM Specimens with Speckle Interferometry and Numerical Optimization

Abstract: This paper describes the process of mechanical characterization of specimens built via Selective Laser Melting (SLM). An hybrid approach based on the combination of phase-shifting electronic speckle pattern interferometry (PS-ESPI) and finite element analysis is utilized. Three-point-bending experimental tests are carried out. The difference between displacement values measured with ESPI and their counterpart predicted by FEM analysis is minimized in order to find the values of the unknown elastic constants.

Application of speckle and (multi-object) multi-frame blind deconvolution techniques on imaging and imaging spectropolarimetric data

Abstract: We test the effects of reconstruction techniques on 2D data to determine the best approach. We obtained a time-series of spectropolarimetric data in the Fe I line at 630.25 nm with the Goettingen Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) that are accompanied by imaging data at 431.3 nm and Ca II H. We apply both speckle and (MO)MFBD techniques. We compare the spatial resolution and investigate the impact of the reconstruction on spectral characteristics. The speckle reconstruction and MFBD perform similar for our imaging data with nearly identical intensity contrasts. MFBD provides a better and more homogeneous resolution at the shortest wavelength. The MOMFBD and speckle deconvolution of the intensity spectra lead to similar results, but our choice of settings for the MOMFBD yields an intensity contrast smaller by about 2% at a comparable spatial resolution. None of the reconstruction techniques introduces artifacts in the intensity spectra. The speckle deconvolution (MOMFBD) has a rms noise in V/I of 0.32% (0.20%). The deconvolved spectra thus require a high significance threshold of about 1.0%. A comparison to spectra with a significantly higher S/N ratio and to spectra from a MHD simulation reveals that the Goettingen FPI can only detect about 30% of the polarization signal in quiet Sun. The distribution of NCP values for the speckle-deconvolved data matches that of observations with higher S/N better than MOMFBD, but shows seemingly artificially sharp boundaries and unexpected changes of the sign. For the spectropolarimetric data, the higher intensity contrast of the speckle deconvolution is balanced by the smaller amplification of the noise level in the MOMFBD at a comparable spatial resolution. The noise level prevents the detection of weak and diffuse magnetic fields.

Analyzing speckle contrast for HiLo microscopy optimization

Abstract: HiLo microscopy is a recently developed technique that provides both optical sectioning and fast imaging with a simple implementation and at a very low cost The methodology combines widefield and speckled illumination images to obtain one optically sectioned image Hence, the characteristics of such speckle illumination ultimately determine the quality of HiLo images and the overall performance of the method In this work, we study how speckle contrast influence local variations of fluorescence intensity and brightness profiles of thick samples We present this article as a guide to adjust the parameters of the system for optimizing the capabilities of this novel technology

Depth-resolved Imaging and Displacement Measurement Techniques Viewed as Linear Filtering Operations

Abstract: The last 5 years have seen the emergence of a family of optical interferometric techniques that provide deformation measurements throughout three-dimensional (3-D) weakly scattering materials. They include wavelength scanning interferometry (WSI), tilt scanning interferometry (TSI), phase contrast spectral optical coherence tomography (PC SOCT) and hyperspectral interferometry (HSI) and can be thought of as a marriage between the phase sensing capabilities of Phase Shifting Interferometry and the depth-sensing capabilities of Optical Coherence Tomography. It was recently shown that some closely related 3-D optical imaging techniques can be treated as shift-invariant linear filtering operations. In this paper, we extend that work to include WSI, TSI, PC SOCT and HSI as spatial filtering operations and also relate the properties of their transfer functions in the spatial frequency domain to their spatial resolution and phase sensitivity, for depth-resolved displacement measurements.

High-Speed Functional OCT with Self-Reconstructive Bessel Illumination at 1300nm

Abstract: We present a Bessel beam illumination FDOCT setup with FDML buffered swept source at 1300nm. An extended focus is achieved due to the Bessel beam that preserves its lateral extend over a large depth range. Decoupling the illumination from the Gaussian detection improves the sensitivity as compared to double passing the ring filter and enables dark field imaging. Dark field imaging is useful to avoid strong reflexes from the samples surface that adversely affect the sensitivity due to the limited dynamic range of high-speed 8bit acquisition cards. Furthermore, Bessel beams exhibit a self-reconstruction property that allows imaging even behind obstacles such as hairs on skin. Densely sampled volumes of skin in-vivo with high lateral resolution are acquired at up to 440kHz A-Scan rate. In addition the possibility of contrasting capillaries with high sensitivity is shown, using inter-B-scan speckle variance analysis. High-speed imaging is of crucial importance for imaging small details since sample motion artifacts are reduced and high sampling can be maintained while increasing the B-Scan rate.

Application of the radial basis function interpolation to phase extraction from a single electronic speckle pattern interferometric fringe

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce the radial basis function (RBF) interpolation method to electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and propose the RBF interpolation method to obtain unwrapped phase values based on a skeleton map. Because of the excellent approximation properties of the RBF interpolation, the proposed method can extract accurate phase values from a single fringe pattern effectively, even using a simple 3×3 mean filter as preprocessing. Using our method, both special filtering methods for ESPI fringes as preprocessing and postprocessing, including a dilatation and erosion algorithm for pruning and connecting and the smooth algorithm for improving the phase values are not needed. We test our method on a computer-simulated and two experimentally obtained poor-quality fringe patterns. The results have demonstrated that our RBF interpolation method works well even under a seriously disconnected skeleton map where it is impossible to apply the widely used, Matlab function grid data interpolation or the backpropagation neural networks method [Appl. Opt. 46, 7475 (2007)].

Simultaneous automatic arteries-veins separation and cerebral blood flow imaging with single-wavelength laser speckle imaging

Abstract: Automatic separation of arteries and veins in optical cerebral cortex images is important in clinical practice and preclinical study. In this paper, a simple but effective automatic artery-vein separation method which utilizes single-wavelength coherent illumination is presented. This method is based on the relative temporal minimum reflectance analysis of laser speckle images. The validation is demonstrated with both theoretic simulations and experimental results applied to the rat cortex. Moreover, this method can be combined with laser speckle contrast analysis so that the artery-vein separation and blood flow imaging can be simultaneously obtained using the same raw laser speckle images data to enable more accurate analysis of changes of cerebral blood flow within different tissue compartments during functional activation, disease dynamic, and neurosurgery, which may broaden the applications of laser speckle imaging in biology and medicine.

Three-dimensional static speckle fields. Part II. Experimental investigation

Abstract: In Part I [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A28, 1896 (2011) of this paper, the physical model for fully developed speckle is examined based on two critical assumptions. (i) It is assumed that in the object plane, the speckle field is delta correlated, and (ii) it is assumed that the speckle field in the observation plane can be described as a Gaussian random process. A satisfactory simulation technique, based on the assumption that spatial averaging can be used to replace ensemble averaging, is also presented. In this part a detailed experimental investigation of the three-dimensional speckle properties is performed using spatial averaging. The results provide solid verification for the predictions presented in Part I. The results are not only of theoretical interest but have practical implications. Techniques for locating and aligning the optical system axis with the camera center, and for measuring out-of-plane displacement, are demonstrated.

Mean squared error performance of speckle-imaging using the bispectrum in horizontal imaging applications

Abstract: The problem of horizontal imaging through the atmospheric boundary layer is common in defense, surveillance and remote sensing applications. Like all earth-bound imaging systems the resolving capability of an imaging system is limited by atmospheric turbulence. Using speckle imaging techniques it is often possible to overcome these effects and recover images with resolution approaching the diffraction-limit. We examine the performance of a bispectrum-based speckle imaging technique when applied to imaging scenarios near the ground. Computer simulations were used to generate three sets of 70, turbulence degraded images with varied turbulence strength. Early results indicate the bispectrum to be a robust estimator for images corrupted by the anisoplanatic turbulence encountered when imaging horizontally. Bispectrum reconstructed image frames show an improvement of nearly 60% in Mean Squared Error (MSE) on average over the examined turbulence strengths. The improvement in MSE was found to increase as additional input frames used for image reconstruction though using a few as 10 input frames provided a 50% improvement in MSE on average over turbulence strengths.