Three-dimensional profilometry using a Dammann grating

High accuracy calibration method for multi-line structured light three-dimensional scanning measurement system based on grating diffraction

Multi-line structured light three-dimensional (3D) scanning measurement system enables to obtain the richer 3D profile data of the object simultaneously during one frame, ensuring high accuracy while structured light is deformed for the modulation by the object. Nevertheless, current calibration methods cannot fully take advantage of its high precision. In this paper, a fast and high-accuracy 3D measurement system based on multi-line lasers with a spatially precise structure via integrating a diffraction grating was proposed. This helps achieve precise calibration results of the light planes by introducing spatial constraint relations of the diffractive light, thus improving measurement accuracy. The operating principle and the workflow of the proposed system were described in detail. The measurement accuracy of the developed prototype was verified through contrastive experiments. At a working distance of 400 mm, the results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) of the proposed system is 0.083 mm, which is improved by 37.6% compared to the traditional calibration method of light planes for the ranging system. The system utilizing a grating that facilitates the integration of the device has great application value.

Periodic diffractive optical element for high-density and large-scale spot array structured light projection

Structured light projection has been widely used for depth sensing in computer vision. Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) play a crucial role in generating structured light projected onto objects, and spot array is a common projection pattern. However, the primary metrics of the spot array, including density and field of view, are restricted by the principle of diffraction and its calculation. In this paper, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, method is proposed to achieve high-density periodic spot array on a large scale. Further, periodic DOEs, for the first time, are optimized to increase the density of the spot array without decreasing the periods of the DOE. Simulation and experimental results of high-density and large-scale spot array structured light projection are presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Two-photon polymerization of silica glass diffractive micro-optics with minimal lateral shrinkage

Three-dimensional printing enables the fabrication of silica glass optics with complex structures. However, shrinkage remains a significant obstacle to high-precision 3D printing of glass optics. Here we 3D-printed Dammann gratings (DGs) with low lateral shrinkage (<4%) using a two-photon polymerization (2PP) technique. The process consists of two steps: patterning two-photon polymerizable glass slurry with a 515 nm femtosecond laser to form desired structures and debinding/sintering the structures into transparent and dense silica glass. The sintered structures exhibited distinct shrinkage rates in the lateral against longitudinal directions. As the aspect ratio of the structures increased, the lateral shrinkage decreased, while the longitudinal shrinkage increased. Specifically, the structure with an aspect ratio of approximately 60 achieved a minimal lateral shrinkage of 1.1%, the corresponding longitudinal shrinkage was 61.7%. The printed DGs with a surface roughness below 20 nm demonstrated good beam-shaping performance. The presented technique opens up possibilities for rapid prototyping of silica diffractive optical elements.

Ultracompact Nanophotonics: Light Emission and Manipulation with Metasurfaces

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is prosperous for the betterment of human well-being. With the expeditious needs of miniature functional devices and systems for adaptive optics and light manipulation at will, relevant sensing techniques are thus in the urgent stage of development. Extensive developments in ultrathin artificial structures, namely metasurfaces, are paving the way for the next-generation devices. A bunch of tunable and reconfigurable metasurfaces with diversified catalogs of mechanisms have been developed recently, enabling dynamic light modulation on demand. On the other hand, monolithic integration of metasurfaces and light-emitting sources form ultracompact meta-devices as well as exhibiting desired functionalities. Photon-matter interaction provides revolution in more compact meta-devices, manipulating light directly at the source. This study presents an outlook on this merging paradigm for ultracompact nanophotonics with metasurfaces, also known as metaphotonics. Recent advances in the field hold great promise for the novel photonic devices with light emission and manipulation in simplicity.

Metasurface for Structured Light Projection over 120° Field of View

Structured light projection is a widely adopted approach for depth perception in consumer electronics and other machine vision systems. Diffractive optical element (DOE) is a key component for structured light projection that redistributes a collimated laser beam to a spot array with uniform intensity. Conventional DOEs for laser spot projection are binary-phase gratings, suffering from low efficiency and low uniformity when designed for a large field of view (FOV). Here, by combining vectorial electromagnetic simulation and interior-point method for optimization, we experimentally demonstrate polarization-independent silicon-based metasurfaces that can project a collimated laser beam to a spot array in the far-field with an exceedingly large FOV over 120° × 120°. The metasurface DOE with large FOV may benefit a number of depth perception-related applications such as face-unlock and motion sensing.

Toward Near-Perfect Diffractive Optical Elements via Nanoscale 3D Printing

Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) are widely applied as compact solutions to generate desired optical patterns in the far field by wavefront shaping. They consist of microscopic structures of varying heights to control the phase of either reflected or transmitted light. However, traditional methods to achieve varying thicknesses of structures for DOEs are tedious, requiring multiple aligned lithographic steps each followed by an etching process. Additionally, the reliance on photomasks precludes rapid prototyping and customization in manufacturing complex and multifunctional surface profiles. To achieve this, we turn to nanoscale 3D printing based on two-photon polymerization lithography (TPL). However, TPL systems lack the precision to pattern diffractive components where subwavelength variations in height and position could lead to observable loss in diffraction efficiency. Here, we employed a lumped TPL parametric model and a workaround patterning strategy to achieve precise 3D printing of DOEs using optimized parameters for laser power, beam scan speed, hatching distance, and slicing distance. In our case study, millimeter scale near-perfect Dammann gratings were fabricated with measured diffraction efficiencies near theoretical limits, laser spot array nonuniformity as low as 1.4%, and power ratio of the zero-order spot as low as 0.4%. Leveraging on the advantages of additive manufacturing inherent to TPL, the 3D-printed optical devices can be applied for precise wavefront shaping, with great potential in all-optical machine learning, virtual reality, motion sensing, and medical imaging.

Binocular vision profilometry for large-sized rough optical elements using binarized band-limited pseudo-random patterns

In this paper, a non-contact binocular vision profilometry method is proposed to measure a rough lens with aperture of around 300mm. A series of binarized band-limited pseudo-random patterns (BBPPs) are projected onto the rough lens, we utilize the temporal encoding method so that each pixel in the captured images has its specific code word. Homologous points could be matched via stereo matching procedure, then the surface of the rough lens will be reconstructed based on triangulation method according to the previous calibration data. Compared with the three coordinate measuring machine (CMM), this method achieves a fast and cheap measurement of the large-sized rough lens, which might be highly interesting for fast and overall measurement of metre-sized rough elements in the future.

Two-dimensional gold matrix method for encoding two-dimensional optical arbitrary positions

In this study, a novel two-dimensional spatial coding pattern called two-dimensional Gold matrix method is proposed for general two-dimensional positioning. Considering the difficulty in representing a two-dimensional position in a single binary matrix, constructing a matrix while each submatrix refers to its location is a challenging mathematical problem. The general two-dimensional signal can be labeled by the two-dimensional Gold matrix, which results from a preferred pair of two m-sequences. For a pseudorandom m-sequence, the span-n property of the two-dimensional Gold matrix states that every n×n submatrix is unique and the decoding is fast and convenient. Numerical simulation and a proof-of-principle experiment are performed, and experimental results verified that the two-dimensional Gold matrix method is effective for high resolution and large range two-dimensional measurements.

Array illumination of a Fresnel-Dammann zone plate

The traditional Dammann grating is a phase-only modulation, and its theoretical foundation is based on far-field diffraction. Here we extend the traditional Fresnel zone plate (FZP) into a Fresnel-Dammann zone plate (FDZP), which is, in essence, considered as a FZP with Dammann modulation. Different from the Dammann grating, a single FDZP can generate array illumination from the near field to the far field by means of amplitude-only modulation in the absence of phase modulation. We then give some array illuminations operated in a water window to validate the feasibility and validity. This kind of wave-front modulation technology can be applied to array focusing and imaging from the x-ray to the EUV region.

Binocular vision measurement using Dammann grating

In this paper, we propose a novel three-dimensional (3D) profilometry using a binocular camera and a 64 × 64 Dammann grating for generation of a regular square laser array. A new constraint called a "ray constraint," taking advantage of the splitting characteristic of Dammann grating, is proposed for binocular matching. Binocular matching is realized by using ray constraint and precalibration of a laser array. Point clouds without outliers are obtained with binocular matching results according to triangulation. The experimental apparatus weighs less than 170 g with a width of less than 14 cm. We used this apparatus to scan a statue of Apollo under indoor illumination (at 450 lux). Its 3D model with complex profile was reconstructed by more than 150,000 points. This 3D profilometry has advantages of low cost, low power, and small size and should be useful for practical applications.

Optimized stereo matching in binocular three-dimensional measurement system using structured light

In this paper, we develop an optimized stereo-matching method used in an active binocular three-dimensional measurement system. A traditional dense stereo-matching algorithm is time consuming due to a long search range and the high complexity of a similarity evaluation. We project a binary fringe pattern in combination with a series of N binary band limited patterns. In order to prune the search range, we execute an initial matching before exhaustive matching and evaluate a similarity measure using logical comparison instead of a complicated floating-point operation. Finally, an accurate point cloud can be obtained by triangulation methods and subpixel interpolation. The experiment results verify the computational efficiency and matching accuracy of the method.