Abstract

Synthetic aperture imaging with active systems is relatively well developed. The implementation of passive systems so far has been hindered by low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the difficulty in achieving 2-D aperture fill. The achromaticity of the grating interferometer permits the use of a wider instantaneous spectral bandwidth to produce better SNR and it provides a simple means to synthesize a 2-D aperture. A passive synthetic aperture imaging approach implemented with an achromatic grating interferometer is described and laboratory experimental results are presented to demonstrate the proposed concept.

© 1986 Optical Society of America