STEAM camera at work - Serial time-encoded amplified imaging for fast dynamics

From the paper "Serial time-encoded amplified imaging for real-time observation of fast dynamic phenomena," K. Goda, K. K. Tsia & B. Jalali, Nature 458, 1145-1149(30 April 2009) http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature07980

Animated movie that illustrates the functionality of the
STEAM camera. The basic features of the STEAM camera are (1) encoding the 2D spatial
information of an object into the spectrum of a broadband pulse, (2) serializing the 2D image
into a 1D temporal data stream, (3) amplifying the image-encoded spectrum in the optical
domain during the serialization process, (4) detecting the 1D temporal data stream with a
single-pixel photodiode and digitizing the signal with a real-time oscilloscope, and (5) sorting
the 1D vector into a 2D matrix in the digital domain for image reconstruction. More
specifically, as shown in the animated movie, a probe pulse is dispersed and separated by
the VIPA and diffraction grating into many subpulses of different colors to produce a spectral
shower pattern. When the spectral shower is incident onto the object, the spatial coordinates
of the object are encoded into the frequencies of the back-reflected spectral shower, which is
directed toward the amplified dispersive Fourier transformer which maps the image-encoded
spectrum into a 1D temporal data stream and simultaneously performs distributed Raman
amplification of it. The optically amplified 1D serial data is detected by the single-pixel
photodiode and digitized by the real-time oscilloscope. The 2D image is reconstructed by
folding the 1D vector into a 2D matrix in the digital domain and then displayed on the monitor
after digital image processing.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• optics
• camera
• physics
• imaging