Abstract

Scanning optical systems are widely used in a variety of imaging schemes (such as in remote sensing, microscopy, etc.). On-line processing and incoherent imaging are some of the advantages of a scanning imaging system. However, the operations achievable using such a system are restricted due to its corresponding real and positive point spread functions (PSFs). Two-pupil synthesis¹ of PSFs removes this restriction as the PSF synthesized is bipolar in general. The capabilities of a scanning optical system can be enhanced if the input is processed by several different operations in parallel.² The purpose of this talk is to demonstrate that multiple parallel processing can be achieved by scanning the input with a PSF resulting from the interaction of more than two pupils. Multiple-pupil interaction is achieved in a system employing a detuned Fabry–Perot driven by a piezoelectric transducer. The spatially separated pupils are shifted in frequency by Doppler effect and interact with each other on the input. Since each pupil is offset by a different temporal frequency, the output contains terms oscillating at the sum and difference frequencies, each of which can perform a different bipolar filtering operation and can be sorted electronically. A four-band spatial filtering operation is demonstrated.

© 1990 Optical Society of America