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. 2024 Sep 21;15(9):1166.
doi: 10.3390/mi15091166.

Design of a Novel Microlens Array and Imaging System for Light Fields

Yifeng Li  1 , Pangyue Li  1 , Xinyan Zheng  1 , Huachen Liu  1 , Yiran Zhao  1 , Xueping Sun  1 , Weiguo Liu  1 , Shun Zhou  1
Affiliations

Design of a Novel Microlens Array and Imaging System for Light Fields

Yifeng Li et al. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

Light field cameras are unsuitable for further acquisition of high-quality images due to their small depth of field, insufficient spatial resolution, and poor imaging quality. To address these issues, we proposed a novel four-focal-square microlens and light field system. A square aspheric microlens array with four orthogonal focal lengths was designed, in which the aperture of a single lens was 100 μm. The square arrangement improves pixel utilization, the four focal lengths increase the depth of field, and the aspheric improves image quality. The simulations demonstrate pixel utilization rates exceeding 90%, depth-of-field ranges 6.57 times that of a single focal length, and image quality is significantly improved. We have provided a potential solution for improving the depth of field and image quality of the light field imaging system.

Keywords: light field imaging system; microlens array; multifocal length; optical design.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Technology of light field cameras and their application in industrial inspection. Reprinted from ref. [25].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic diagram of the new light field imaging system.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Optical path structure diagram of Keplerian light field imaging system.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic representation of the same object being imaged on multiple microlens.
Figure 5
Figure 5
An illustration of the spatial arrangement of different microlens arrays and the effective pixel area.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison of pixel utilization of microlens arrays with different arrangement methods.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of parameters B and f on depth of field.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Schematic diagram of microlens with different focal lengths for secondary imaging.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The effect of different parameters on focal length.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The variation of Airy disk with d under different λ.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Simulation results of sub-microlens with three different surface shapes. (a) MTF curves, spot diagrams, and imaging results for standard surface shape; (b) MTF curves, spot diagrams, and imaging results for single-sided even aspheric surfaces; (c) MTF curves, spot diagrams, and imaging results for double-sided even aspheric surfaces.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Tolerance analysis results for the double-sided even aspheric surface.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Eigenfrequency and RMS radius of different surface shapes at various apertures.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Novel four-focal-length square microlens array structure and imaging optical path. (a) four-focal-length sub-lens unit and depth-of-field extension; (b) the imaging optical path of the novel light field imaging system.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Simulation diagram of the overall structure of the system.
Figure 16
Figure 16
The results of the system simulation. (a) The original image; (b) the light field image after simulation.
Figure 17
Figure 17
MTF curves for a single sub-microlens.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Geometric bitmap image simulation results. (a) Focus on sub-microlens 1; (b) focus on sub-microlens 2; (c) focus on sub-microlens 3; (d) focus on sub-microlens 4.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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