Light field super resolution through controlled micro-shifts of light field sensor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel light field super-resolution method that involves capturing multiple light fields with controlled micro-shifts of the sensor, then fusing them to enhance spatial resolution.

Contribution

It proposes a new approach using controlled micro-shifts and fusion of multiple light fields to overcome the low spatial resolution of micro-lens array based light field cameras.

Findings

Improved spatial resolution through sensor micro-shifting and fusion.

Effective enhancement of light field image quality.

Potential for better post-capture refocusing and aperture control.

Abstract

Light field cameras enable new capabilities, such as post-capture refocusing and aperture control, through capturing directional and spatial distribution of light rays in space. Micro-lens array based light field camera design is often preferred due to its light transmission efficiency, cost-effectiveness and compactness. One drawback of the micro-lens array based light field cameras is low spatial resolution due to the fact that a single sensor is shared to capture both spatial and angular information. To address the low spatial resolution issue, we present a light field imaging approach, where multiple light fields are captured and fused to improve the spatial resolution. For each capture, the light field sensor is shifted by a pre-determined fraction of a micro-lens size using an XY translation stage for optimal performance.