Invention:
Inventors at the University of Arizona have developed a method to reduce aliasing of high frequency information from objects being imaged with optical fibers or a detector array system. This is accomplished by collecting multiple images through modification of the fiber bundle. The novel means of collection and the novel method of post processing combine to improve spatial resolution and overall image quality of the final image.
Background:
In image relay systems, such as those that use fiber optics or a detector array, there is a sampling process whereby the detector samples the continuous light incident on it. In these systems, there is a limit on the rate of the sampling process that defines the frequencies of light from the sample that can and cannot be detected by the detector. Spatial frequencies from the sample that are higher than this limit will be misinterpreted as smaller frequencies by the detector, a process known as aliasing, which results in the degradation of image quality. The aliasing artifact is especially pronounced in systems that use fiber bundles, such as in endoscopy, since the size and spacing of the individual fiber cores in the bundle are small.
Applications:
- Endoscopic imaging (endoscopes, fiberscopes)
- Imaging with a detector array
- Fiber-optic-bundle-based optical coherence tomography
- Fiber-optic fluorescence imaging
- Optical biopsy system
- Fiber-optic endomicroscopy
Advantages:
- Improves spatial resolution
- Reduces fixed pattern noise
- Reduces aliasing artifact
- Improves image quality
Status: issued U.S. patent #10,754,144
