CAREER: Towards Computational Interferometric Imaging

尽管计算光传输系统的多样性，所有现有的技术都局限于在宏观尺度上成像，范围从几厘米到几米。这一限制使得现有的计算光传输技术及其实现的卓越能力超出了需要在微观尺度上成像的几个关键应用领域的范围，例如医学成像，工业制造和材料科学。该项目旨在通过在计算光传输和光学干涉成像（一种非常适合显微成像的波动光学技术）之间建立桥梁来改变这种状况。该项目将产生一套计算干涉测量系统，提供微观尺度上计算光传输能力的全谱。该项目包括与研究活动紧密结合的教育和推广计划，即：1）创建视觉计算，光学和成像的跨学科课程; 2）为初中和高中学生举办一系列研讨会和暑期课程。这些活动将带来长期的社会效益，鼓励中等教育和传统上代表性不足的学生将STEM研究和教育作为职业道路。该项目将通过三个紧密耦合的研究重点实现其目标：1）该项目将开发理论基础，统一非相干和相干成像的概念。发现的理论将使新的干涉成像系统的设计，可以编程选择性地测量任意光路，同时在微观尺度上操作。2)该项目将在一系列微观应用中部署这些系统，包括形状扫描，散射断层扫描和非视线成像。这些特定任务的实现将展示计算干涉测量的灵活性和改进的性能。3)该项目将设计使用计算干涉测量系统作为光学计算机的混合光学数字系统，以提高速度和信噪比来执行常见计算。所产生的计算干涉测量系统将在医学中的真实的条件下进行评估（深层组织成像），工业制造（闭环制造）和材料分析（散射材料表征），这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过利用基金会的智力价值进行评估来支持的，更广泛的影响审查标准。

Despite the diversity of computational light transport systems, all existing technologies are constrained to imaging at macroscopic scales, ranging from a few centimeters to several meters. This constraint places existing computational light transport techniques, and the remarkable capabilities they enable, outside of reach for several critical application areas that require imaging at microscopic scales, such as medical imaging, industrial fabrication, and material science. This project aims to change this state of affairs, by creating a bridge between computational light transport and optical interferometric imaging, a wave-optics technology well-suited for microscopic imaging. The project will produce a suite of computational interferometry systems that make available the full spectrum of computational light transport capabilities at microscopic scales. The project includes education and outreach programs tightly coupled to the research activities, namely: 1) the creation of interdisciplinary courses in visual computing, optics, and imaging; and 2) a series of workshops and summer courses for middle and high school students. These activities will bring long-term societal benefit, by encouraging students in secondary education and from traditionally under-represented backgrounds to take up STEM research and education as a career path.The project will achieve its objective through three tightly coupled research thrusts: 1) The project will develop theoretical foundations that unify concepts across incoherent and coherent imaging. The discovered theories will enable the design of new interferometric imaging systems that can be programmed to selectively measure arbitrary light paths, while operating at microscopic scales. 2) The project will deploy these systems in a range of microscopic applications, including shape scanning, scattering tomography, and non-line-of-sight imaging. These task-specific implementations will demonstrate the flexibility and improved performance of computational interferometry. 3) The project will design hybrid optical-digital systems that use computational interferometry systems as optical computers, to perform common calculations with improved speed and signal-to-noise ratio. The produced computational interferometry systems will be evaluated under real conditions in medicine (deep tissue imaging), industrial manufacturing (closed-loop fabrication), and material analysis (scattering material characterization), thus creating strong potential for transformative impact in these critical application areas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.