Synthetic aperture laser optical feedback imaging using a translational scanning with galvanometric mirrors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel LOFI-based synthetic aperture imaging system using galvanometric mirrors for deep, high-resolution imaging through scattering media, demonstrating resolution beyond the working distance and analyzing photon budget effects.

Contribution

The work presents an experimental setup combining LOFI and synthetic aperture with translational scanning, achieving deep imaging with maintained resolution beyond the working distance.

Findings

Successfully produced 2D synthetic aperture images of scattering targets.

Demonstrated resolution preservation beyond the working distance.

Analyzed photon number reduction and compensation via LOFI sensitivity.

Abstract

In this paper we present an experimental setup based on Laser Optical Feedback Imaging (LOFI) and on Synthetic Aperture (SA) with translational scanning by galvanometric mirrors for the purpose of making deep and resolved images through scattering media. We provide real 2D optical synthetic-aperture image of a fixed scattering target with a moving aperture and an isotropic resolution. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that we can keep microscope resolution beyond the working distance. A photometric balance is made and we show that the number of photons participating in the final image decreases with the square of the reconstruction distance. This degradation is partially compensated by the high sensitivity of LOFI.