Dynamic Spatio-Temporal Modulation of Light by Phononic Architecture (DYNAMO)

成像技术构成了大量产品和设备的基础，改进将在科学和商业上产生巨大影响。我们已经确定了一个关键的瓶颈，即光在成像系统中的调制方式，我们可以解锁这个瓶颈，以实现成像技术的新范式。空间光调制器和类似组件按顺序运行：光束以不同的图案整形，但图案之间的时间间隔受设备刷新率的限制。我们将消除这一限制，从而创造技术突破；我们的进步将是同时发送该设备的所有可能的图案，并以短纳秒脉冲编码，创造出平行光束整形或动态时空光调制设备的概念。在迪纳摩，我们将在两个空间维度加上时间维度对光束进行整形。动态像素的等效刷新率将从GHz开始，尽管我们有信心在项目结束时会变得更高。为了说明我们的雄心，我们将图像处理时间的改进与计算机时钟频率的改进进行了比较：第一台通用电子计算机ENIAC在1945年的时钟频率为100 kHz。直到2000年，AMD才在他们的计算机上达到1 GHz。处理图像与处理数据大体相似，因此这预示着我们将在成像领域实现50年的加速。迪纳摩是一个雄心勃勃的综合项目，从研究声波散射的基本原理开始，以开发光学中的超快成像应用为结束。这条途径的成功需要物理声学、光子学和成像学科的协同。该项目的成果将加速成像技术，并使欧洲科学和工业走在随后的发明和进步的前沿

Imaging technologies form the basis of a vast range of products and devices and improvements would have a huge impact both scientifically and commercially. We have identified a key bottleneck, how light is modulated in the imaging system, that we can unlock to achieve a new paradigm in imaging technologies. Spatial light modulators, and similar components, operate sequentially: the light beam is shaped in different patterns but the time interval between patterns is limited by the refresh rate of the device. We will remove this limitation, thereby creating a technological breakthrough; our advance will be to send all possible patterns of the device simultaneously, and encoded in a short nanosecond pulse, creating the concept of parallel beam shaping or dynamic spatio-temporal light modulation device. In DYNAMO, we will shape optical beams in two spatial dimensions plus the temporal one. The equivalent refresh rate of the dynamic pixel will start at GHz, although we are confident it will become much higher by the end of the project. To give an idea of our ambition, we compare this improvement in the time to process images with the improvement in the clock frequency of computers: the first general-purpose electronic computer, the ENIAC, had a clock frequency of 100kHz in 1945. It was not until 2000 where AMD reached 1 GHz in their computers. Processing images is broadly similar to processing data so this is indicative of the fifty-year acceleration in the realm of imaging that we will achieve. DYNAMO is an ambitious and integrated project that begins by studying the fundamentals of acoustic wave scattering and ends by developing ultra-fast imaging applications in optics. The success of this pathway requires the synergy of the disciplines of physical acoustics, photonics and imaging. The outcomes from this project offer to accelerate imaging technologies and place European science and industry at the forefront of the inventions and advances that will follow