Aperture-aware Dispersion 5-D Light-field Imaging Spectrometer

2026-07-05

AI Summary

This work proposes a compact, high-resolution paradigm for 5D spectral light-field imaging that overcomes the limitations of conventional approaches relying on bulky camera arrays or single-detector systems constrained by trade-offs among spatial, angular, and spectral resolutions. By employing a birefringent quartz phase plate, the method achieves aperture multiplexing and dispersion modulation, encoding full-view and spectral information into every pixel. An end-to-end learnable reconstruction framework jointly optimizes optical encoding and 5D signal disentanglement, enabling robust, high-performance spectral light-field recovery at low cost. The approach preserves full spatial resolution while surpassing traditional resolution limits, with its efficacy validated through both simulations and real-world experiments.

Abstract

Enhancing perceptual dimensions while miniaturizing imaging systems presents significant challenges for high-dimensional visual sensing. Conventionally, the acquisition of the 5D (x,y,u,v,λ) spectral light field (5D-SLF) data cube relies on bulky and expensive camera arrays, which are impractical for widespread application. Existing single-detector systems are fundamentally limited by a trade-off between the resolutions of different dimensions owing to insufficient coding capabilities. Here we introduce an Aperture-aware Dispersion Light-field Imaging Spectrometer (ADLIS), that targets a synergy between compactness and resolution through aperture-multiplexed modulation, leveraging the inherent spectral-filtering properties of birefringent material. Using only a manufacturing-friendly and cost-effective phase plate made of birefringent quartz crystal, the aperture of the proposed ADLIS enables compact angular-spectral encoding that is highly sensitive to both the incident angle and spectrum of incoming light. In contrast to the viewpoint-separation approach of microlens arrays, ADLIS employs aperture encoding to superimpose all viewpoints onto each sensor pixel. This shifts the design paradigm from spatial division to encoding integration, aiming to achieve full-resolution light field recovery. Thus, we develop the Aperture-aware Dispersion Light-field Imaging (ADLI) framework, which optimizes the aperture design and 5D-SLF reconstruction in an end-to-end (E2E) manner. Trained by simulation data and validated through real-world experiments, our system achieves robust high-performance 5D-SLF imaging while maintaining full spatial resolution.

Problem

• 5D light-field imaging
• spectral light field
• aperture encoding
• resolution trade-off
• compact imaging system

Innovation

• light-field imaging
• spectral imaging
• aperture encoding
• birefringent modulation
• 5D reconstruction