Synthetic Wavelength Holography

Imaging through scattering media or around corners at high resolution

Synthetic Wavelength Holography introduces a novel solution to image through scattering media, or around the corner at the physical space bandwidth limit. Current state-of-the-art approaches are either technically limited by the low spatial and temporal resolution of time-of-flight detectors, or by a very narrow viewing angle in which the hidden scene can be reconstructed. In our approach, we beat together light at two closely spaced optical frequencies to produce a low frequency ‘synthetic wave’ (beat wave), largely immune to the unknown scattering processes between hidden scene and detector. A ‘synthetic hologram’ of the hidden scene can be acquired within milliseconds. Since the ‘synthetic wavelength’ is freely tunable, the captured hologram provides a window to fully reconstruct the three-dimensional light field of the hidden scene at the best possible resolution.

The general concept of ‘synthetic waves’ has potential applications at many different scales and wavebands, including radar, ultrasound, or X-ray. In the optical waveband the ability to look around corners or through scattering media has many potential applications in medicine, naval sciences, earth, and planetary sciences as well as automotive sensing and material sciences. Looking deeper through tissue, novel endoscopic imaging methods, or imaging through dense fog or atmospheric turbulences are just a few potential applications.

Jump to: [Publications], [News and Press], [Related Talk Recordings]

Related Talk Recordings

	F. Willomitzer Single-shot synthetic wavelength holography: a flexible approach for high-resolution imaging through scattering media OPTICA Frontiers in Optics (FiO) Health Symposium, Tacoma, 2023 [Full Video]
	F. Willomitzer Utilizing Nature’s Limits for Better Computational 3D Imaging Center For Robotics and Biosystems Seminar, Northwestern University, USA, 2022 [Full Video] , [Jump to Project (38:40)]
	F. Willomitzer A holographic camera that can see the unseen TEDx Nuremberg, Germany, July 2022 [Full Video]
	F. Willomitzer Synthetic Wavelength Holography – Imaging around Corners and through Scattering Media at the Physical Space-Bandwidth Limit Physics Colloquium Talk Series, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, 2021 [Full Video]
	F. Willomitzer Fundamental Limits in Computational 3D Imaging – From Novel 3D Cameras to Looking around Corners Beyond the Patterns Talk Series, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, 2021 [Full Video] , [Jump to Project (23:42)]

Publications

Fast Non-Line-of-Sight Imaging with High-Resolution and Wide Field of View using Synthetic Wavelength Holography
F. Willomitzer, P. Rangarajan, F. Li, M. Balaji, M. Christensen, O. Cossairt.
Nature Communications 12, 6647, 2021

Synthetic Wavelength Imaging - Utilizing Spectral Correlations for High-Precision Time-of-Flight Sensing
F. Willomitzer
Book Chapter Preprint, 2022

Towards Synthetic Light-in-Flight
P. Cornwall, M.Ballester, H. Wang, F.Willomitzer
Optica Open, 2023

Synthetic Wavelength Holography: An Extension of Gabor’s Holographic Principle to Imaging with Scattered Wavefronts
F. Willomitzer, P. Rangarajan, F. Li, M. Balaji, M. Christensen, O. Cossairt.
arXiv Preprint, 2019

Single-shot ToF sensing with sub-mm precision using conventional CMOS sensors
M. Ballester*, H. Wang*, J. Li, O. Cossairt, F. Willomitzer (* joint first authors).
ArXiv Preprint, 2022

Spatially resolved Indirect Imaging of objects beyond the line of sight
P. Rangarajan, F. Willomitzer, O. Cossairt, MP. Christensen
Proc. SPIE 11135, Unconventional and Indirect Imaging, Image Reconstruction, and Wavefront Sensing, 2019

Non-Line-of-Sight Imaging with Superheterodyne Remote Digital Holography
F. Willomitzer, F. Li, M.M. Balaji, P. Rangarajan, O. Cossairt
OSA Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging, CM2A. 2, 2019

Non-Line-of-Sight Imaging using Superheterodyne Interferometry
F. Willomitzer, F. Li, M.M. Balaji, P. Rangarajan, O. Cossairt.
OSA Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging, CM2E. 1, 2018