Superresolution far-field imaging by coded phase reflectors distributed only along the boundary of synthetic apertures

The resolution of imaging by space and earth-based telescopes is often limited by the finite aperture of the optical systems. We propose a novel synthetic aperture-based imaging system with two physical subapertures distributed only along the perimeter of the synthetic aperture. The minimum demonstrated two-subaperture area is only 0.43% of a total full synthetic aperture area. The proposed optical configuration is inspired by a setup in which two synchronized satellites move only along the boundary of the synthetic aperture and capture a few light patterns from the observed scene. The light reflected from the two satellites interferes with an image sensor located in a third satellite. The sum of the entire interfering patterns is processed to yield the image of the scene with a quality comparable to an image obtained from the complete synthetic aperture. The proposed system is based on the incoherent coded aperture holography technique in which the light diffracted from an object is modulated by a pseudorandom coded phase mask. The modulated light is recorded and digitally processed to yield the 3D image of the object. A laboratory model of imaging with two synchronized subapertures distributed only along the border of the aperture is demonstrated. Experimental results validate that sampling along the boundary of the synthetic aperture is enough to yield an image with the resolving power obtained from the complete synthetic aperture. Unlike other schemes of synthetic aperture, there is no need to sample any other part of the aperture beside its border. Hence, a significant saving of time and/or devices are expected in the process of data acquisition.