阅读说明：本技术 一种满足微光成像的实时偏振成像阵列结构 (Real-time polarization imaging array structure meeting low-light-level imaging ) 是由 梁宛玉 许洁 戴放 常维静 刘庆飞 沈吉 李秋利 那启跃 简云飞 于 2019-09-12 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种满足微光成像的实时偏振成像阵列结构,采用多个3×3像元构成部分叠加重复的偏振阵列,每个偏振阵列包括9个偏振单元,分别对应中心的1个无偏振单元和周围的4个偏振方向的8个偏振单元；4个偏振方向为0°、45°、90°和135°,每个偏振方向对应为重复的两个偏振单元。本发明设计思想上抛开超像元的概念,取相邻单元的偏振信息做加权平均作为自身的偏振信息,信息准确度较高,且无偏振单元的存在使得器件的最低工作照度不被降低,器件同时具备微光-偏振探测功能；大幅提高探测器件对目标的探测识别能力外,还具有加工难度低、成本低、易于实现器件集成等优点。(The invention discloses a real-time polarization imaging array structure meeting low-light level imaging, which adopts a plurality of 3 multiplied by 3 pixels to form a polarization array with repeated superposition, wherein each polarization array comprises 9 polarization units which respectively correspond to 1 non-polarization unit at the center and 8 polarization units at the periphery in 4 polarization directions; the 4 polarization directions are 0 °, 45 °, 90 ° and 135 °, each polarization direction corresponding to two polarization units that repeat. The design concept of the super-pixel is abandoned, the polarization information of adjacent units is taken as the polarization information of the super-pixel, the information accuracy is high, the lowest working illumination of the device is not reduced due to the existence of the non-polarization unit, and the device has the glimmer-polarization detection function; the method greatly improves the detection and identification capability of the detection device on the target, and has the advantages of low processing difficulty, low cost, easy device integration and the like.)

1. a real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging is characterized in that,

A plurality of 3 x 3 pixels are adopted to form a partial overlapped and repeated polarization array, each polarization array comprises 9 polarization units, and the polarization units respectively correspond to 1 non-polarization unit in the center and 8 polarization units in 4 polarization directions around the polarization unit;

The 4 polarization directions are 0 °, 45 °, 90 ° and 135 °, each polarization direction corresponding to two polarization units that repeat.

2. The real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 8 polarization units with 4 polarization directions around are arranged in a centrosymmetric array with the 1 central non-polarization unit as the center.

3. the real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging as claimed in claim 1, wherein for non-polarized cells, the polarization information is calculated by using the light intensities of the surrounding 8 polarized cells.

4. The real-time polarization imaging array structure for low-light level imaging according to claim 1, wherein the light intensities with polarization directions of 0 °, 45 °, 90 ° and 135 ° are respectively represented by the following formula:

Wherein, each of P1, P2, P3, P4, P6, P7, P8 and P9 is the intensity of light received by each of the polarizing units arranged in order except for the central non-polarizing unit.

5. The real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging according to claim 4, wherein the polarization state of light of a pixel is represented by the following formula according to Stokes vector definition:

in the formula, S0 is total light intensity, and the light intensity P5 output by the non-polarization unit is directly used as the total light intensity; s1 is the difference between the light intensity component I0 in the horizontal polarization direction and the light intensity component I90 in the vertical polarization direction; s2 is the difference between the light intensity component I45 with the polarization direction of 45 DEG and the light intensity component I135 with the polarization direction of 135 deg.

6. The real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging as claimed in claim 5, wherein the polarization imaging is performed by obtaining the degree of linear polarization DoP and the polarization angle AoP of each pixel according to the Stokes vectors S0, S1 and S2 of the polarization state.

7. The real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging as claimed in claim 6, wherein the linear polarization degree is:

8. The real-time polarization imaging array structure satisfying low-light level imaging as claimed in claim 6, wherein the polarization angle is:

Technical Field

The invention relates to a real-time polarization imaging array structure, and belongs to the technical field of polarization imaging detection.

Background

With the development of low-light night vision technology and the continuous expansion of the application field thereof, the demand for high-performance low-light night vision detection is more and more increased, not only higher requirements on detection sensitivity are provided, but also the low-light polarization imaging detection is used as a limit sensitivity polarization imaging measurement technology and is more and more paid attention to by people. Since polarization is an important feature of electromagnetic waves, polarization is another important property of light in addition to wavelength, amplitude, and phase. A substance may have different polarization characteristics due to its own properties (which may result in characteristic polarization depending on its own properties), that is, a substance may have different polarization characteristics due to its own properties, such as surface characteristics, roughness, shading, and appearance. Compared with the techniques such as intensity imaging, spectral imaging, infrared radiation imaging and the like, the polarization imaging detection technique has unique advantages: besides acquiring conventional imaging information, polarization multi-dimensional information can be additionally acquired. The polarization vector information is effectively utilized, the image contrast can be enhanced, and the signal-to-noise ratio is improved, so that the quality of target detection imaging can be improved, and the detection precision can be improved.

An Electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD) is a new type of all-solid-state micro-light imaging CCD, also called controllable charge CCD, and is mainly different from the conventional CCD detector in that a multiplying register is embedded between a read register and an output amplifier to realize electronic gain. The detector is intensity detection and is insensitive to polarization. In order to realize polarization selective detection, a polarization beam splitter or a separate polarization polarizer is usually added in front of the detector for detection, but the method needs mechanical rotation, and the polarization characteristic of the incident light cannot be obtained in real time. With the progress of the polarization imaging of the focus plane and the research work of the sub-wavelength polarization grating, the polaroid can be integrated on the surface of the detector pixel for the convenience of real-time polarization detection.

The polarization detector of the sub-focal plane integrates micro-polarizers in different polarization directions on the focal plane, wherein the distance between the micro-polarizers is matched with the distance between pixels, and different pixels detect different polarization directions. The super-pixel concept is introduced, namely four 2 x 2 pixels in the physical sense form one super-pixel, wherein 4 sub-pixels in the super-pixel simultaneously detect information in different polarization directions, and then the Stokes parameters corresponding to the super-pixels are obtained through calculation. Most current sub-focal plane polarization detectors only detect linearly polarized light information. The polarization detector with the split focal plane can realize simultaneous detection of different polarization directions, and the detector has a compact light path structure and is easy to align. But for each super-pixel, 4 sub-pixels will produce an alignment error of one pixel when imaged, which can be solved by an algorithmic process. Likewise, the sub-focal plane polarization detection also reduces the spatial resolution of the detector.

The imaging principle of the split-focal-plane polarization detector is similar to that of a color imaging sensor, and a Bayer model is used. For color imaging sensors, the filter film is grown directly on different pixels of the focal plane. The pixels are arranged according to a Bayer pattern to form super pixels with 2 x 2 minimum repeat units, thereby displaying detection of all bands of visible light. For the polarization detector with a split focal plane, there are mainly two types of detection modes according to the difference of the distribution modes of the micro-polarizers. In the first detection mode, the super-pixel consists of a polarization direction of 0 degree, a polarization direction of 45 degrees and two non-polarization pixels. In the second detection mode, the super-pixel consists of four polarization directions, which are respectively: 0 °, 45 °, 90 °, 135 °. Both modes can fully obtain the first 3 parameters of the Stokes vector, but the first mode has a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the extraction of S0, and the second mode has a higher signal-to-noise ratio for the extraction of S1 and S2. Through calculation of Stokes parameters, linear polarization degree and polarization angle images can be obtained.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a structural design for realizing the requirement of low-light-level imaging real-time polarization imaging array according to the characteristics and the working principle of the existing EMCCD low-light-level imaging device, so as to solve the problem that the obtained polarization image has larger error due to insufficient light sensitivity under the condition of low light irradiation in the prior art.

the technical solution for realizing the purpose of the invention is as follows:

a real-time polarization imaging array structure meeting low-light level imaging,

a plurality of 3 x 3 pixels are adopted to form a partial overlapped and repeated polarization array, each polarization array comprises 9 polarization units, and the polarization units respectively correspond to 1 non-polarization unit in the center and 8 polarization units in 4 polarization directions around the polarization unit;

The 4 polarization directions are 0 °, 45 °, 90 ° and 135 °, each polarization direction corresponding to two polarization units that repeat.

Furthermore, the 8 polarization units with 4 polarization directions around the polarization unit are distributed in a centrosymmetric array by taking the 1 central non-polarization unit as the center.

Further, for a non-polarized unit, the light intensity of the surrounding 8 polarized units can be used to calculate the polarization information.

Further, the light intensities of the polarization directions 0 °, 45 °, 90 °, 135 ° are respectively represented by the following formulas:

Wherein, each of P1, P2, P3, P4, P6, P7, P8 and P9 is the intensity of light received by each of the polarizing units arranged in order except for the central non-polarizing unit.

Further, the polarization state of the light of the picture element is represented by the following equation, defined by the Stokes vector:

In the formula, S0 is total light intensity, and the light intensity P5 output by the non-polarization unit is directly used as the total light intensity; s1 is the difference between the light intensity component I0 in the horizontal polarization direction and the light intensity component I90 in the vertical polarization direction; s2 is the difference between the light intensity component I45 with the polarization direction of 45 DEG and the light intensity component I135 with the polarization direction of 135 deg.

Further, according to the Stokes vectors S0, S1 and S2 of the polarization state, the linear polarization degree DoP and the polarization angle AoP of each pixel are obtained, and then polarization imaging is performed.

Further, the degree of linear polarization is:

Further, the polarization angle is:

Due to the application of the technical scheme, compared with the prior art, the invention has the following advantages:

1. The invention provides a3 multiplied by 3 polarized array structure, adds a structure of a non-polarized unit, abandons the concept of a super-pixel on the design idea, takes the polarization information of adjacent units as the polarization information of the super-pixel, has higher information accuracy, ensures that the lowest working illumination of the device is not reduced due to the existence of the non-polarized unit, and has the glimmer-polarization detection function.

2. the invention provides a3 x 3 polarization array structure, because the polarization information source has symmetry, the introduced error is small, and compared with the traditional quaternary superpixel calculation mode, the method can not reduce the imaging resolution of the device.

3. The polarization array structure provided by the invention not only meets the requirements of low-light polarization imaging and greatly improves the detection and identification capability of targets, but also has the advantages of low processing difficulty, low cost, easiness in device integration and the like.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a cell array design for four polarization directions.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an array design for nine polarization directions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an array design for four polarization directions plus an unpolarized element.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the calculation division of the polarization unit.

FIG. 5 is a design polarization degree image of a cell array of four polarization directions.

FIG. 6 is a design polarization degree image of an array of four polarization directions plus an unpolarized element.

Detailed Description

the invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following examples are only for illustrating the technical solutions of the present invention more clearly, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

For the resolving process of polarization imaging, the response of the current pixel and its surrounding pixels is usually used to directly or indirectly obtain the polarization components or polarization states of the pixel to different directions, and then the polarization information is resolved to complete the resolving of polarization imaging. The micro-nano polarization grating units are integrated on the surface of the imaging device, each photosensitive unit corresponds to one polarization unit, and the polarization array schemes of the figures 1-3 are designed for realizing the detection of polarized light in different directions by the photosensitive units.

The first technical scheme is as follows: in order to realize the polarization imaging of the focus-splitting plane, a super pixel is formed by a2 × 2 polarization unit array, as shown in fig. 1. The area array is composed of 4 polarization units, and the four polarization directions of 0 degree, 45 degrees, 90 degrees and 135 degrees are respectively corresponding to the four polarization directions so as to meet the acquisition of Stokes vector related parameters.

further, metal gratings with certain widths are designed among the four polarization units to be used as isolation, so that crosstalk between adjacent pixels is avoided. Meanwhile, the existence of the isolation grating can also cause the transmittance of the image element to be reduced. In addition, the polarization information of the area of the super pixel 1/4 is used as the polarization information of the whole super pixel at a certain angle, and a certain error exists.

The second technical scheme is as follows: in order to further increase the number of polarization states, on the basis of the first scheme, 3 × 3 polarization arrays are designed as shown in fig. 2, where each polarization array includes 9 polarization units, and corresponds to 9 polarization directions of 0 °, 20 °, 40 °, 60 °, 80 °, 100 °, 120 °, 140 °, and 160 °, respectively. Such an array structure is advantageous for improving the accuracy of the acquisition of polarization information. However, since the intensity of light is very weak during low-light imaging, which is not favorable for polarization imaging, a white light channel, i.e., a non-polarization unit, is added in the second scheme.

further, due to the increase of the polarization directions, the complexity of the array and the difficulty of process preparation are improved, and the resolution of an output image is reduced, so that the number of polarization states is reduced.

the third technical scheme is as follows: on the basis of reserving the 3 multiplied by 3 polarization array design of the second technical scheme, the design concept of the super pixel is abandoned, a non-polarization unit design is adopted, the response of the integrated polarization device to low light is enhanced, and the specific polarization array structure is shown in figure 3. Let 3 × 3 pixels constitute repeating units, each repeating unit comprising 4 polarization directions (0 °, 45 °, 90 °, 135 °, two for each direction) and 1 non-polarizing unit. Wherein, for the pixel P5, although it is unpolarized, the polarization information of the adjacent cells can be weighted and averaged as the polarization information of P5, and the error is small because the polarization information source has symmetry. With such an array, each pixel can output polarization information without a reduction in resolution.

The following describes the calculation process of the polarization degree and the polarization angle according to the above three technical solutions.

The description modes of polarized light include jones vector, Stokes vector (Stokes vector), three-dimensional vector and the like, and both jones vector and three-dimensional vector are representation methods based on light polarization amplitude, and are not convenient for describing partial polarized light and non-polarized light. Most of radiation or reflected light in nature is partially polarized light, the Stokes vector is a light intensity-based representation method and can describe polarized light, partially polarized light and unpolarized light, so the Stokes vector is suitably adopted in polarization imaging detection to describe the polarization state of the light.

The Stokes vector description method describes the polarization state of light by using four parameters which are all time average values of intensity, and the four parameters are convenient to directly or indirectly measure by using various detection devices or imaging devices. According to the definition of the Stokes vector, the polarization state of light can be represented by the following formula:

Wherein S0 is the total light intensity; s1 is the difference between the light intensity component I0 in the horizontal polarization direction and the light intensity component I90 in the vertical polarization direction; s2 is the difference between the light intensity component I45 with the polarization direction of 45 degrees and the light intensity component I135 with the polarization direction of 135 degrees; s3 is the difference between the intensity component IL of the left-hand polarized light and the intensity component IR of the right-hand polarized light.

In the polarization detection, the circular polarization component is very small compared with the linear polarization component, the circular polarization component can not be considered, and the polarization array studied by the application is linear polarization, so the polarization state of light can be represented by the following formula

For the second technical solution, the polarization states of light with 9 polarization directions of 0 °, 20 °, 40 °, 60 °, 80 °, 100 °, 120 °, 140 ° and 160 ° are adopted, and according to the definition of Stokes vector, the corresponding polarization state is represented by the following formula:

in the formula, θ I represents 9 polarization directions, and I (θ I) represents the light intensity received by the pixel in each polarization direction, so that the calculation is complex and difficult.

for the polarization array structure shown in fig. 3 of the third technical solution, the polarization information of the middle P5 is obtained by calculating the light intensities of the polarization units around the non-polarization pixels, and the light intensities in several directions of 0 °, 45 °, 90 °, and 135 ° can be represented by the following formula.

For the third scheme, where P1 to P9 are the light intensities received by the pixels shown in fig. 3, the calculation units are divided as shown in fig. 4, the polarization information of the central pixel is comprehensively calculated by the central pixel and the surrounding 8 pixels, and a1, a2, A3, and a4 in fig. 4 are schematic calculation units for the division. The Stokes vector of P5 in fig. 3 can be solved by using I0+ I90 as the total light intensity, and using the light intensity P5 detected and outputted by the non-polarization unit as the total light intensity, the information accuracy is higher.

as long as the linearly polarized Stokes vectors S0, S1 and S2 are obtained, the linear polarization degree DoP and the polarization angle AoP of each pixel can be obtained, and then polarization imaging is carried out.

Therefore, no matter the design of 4 polarization directions in the first technical scheme is adopted, or the design of 9 polarization directions in the second technical scheme is adopted, or the design of 4 polarization directions plus no polarization in the third technical scheme is adopted, the complete linear polarization Stokes information can be obtained, and then polarization imaging can be carried out. The design of 4 polarization directions is characterized by simpler structure and low preparation difficulty. The design of 9 polarization directions is that the obtained Stokes information is more accurate. The design of 4 polarization directions plus no polarization in the third technical scheme is more reasonable, not only meets the requirement of low-light level imaging, but also reduces the difficulty of preparation under the condition of ensuring the accuracy of Stokes information. The polarization degree images to which the first and third solutions are applied in one embodiment are shown in fig. 5 and 6, respectively. It is also obvious from the figure that the polarization degree diagram of the third technical scheme is obviously better than that of the first technical scheme, and the detail information is richer.

The invention provides a3 multiplied by 3 polarized array structure, adds a structure of a non-polarized unit, abandons the concept of a super-pixel on the design idea, takes the polarization information of adjacent units as the polarization information of the super-pixel, has higher information accuracy, ensures that the lowest working illumination of the device is not reduced due to the existence of the non-polarized unit, and has the glimmer-polarization detection function. The method greatly improves the detection and identification capability of the detection device on the target, and has the advantages of low processing difficulty, low cost, easy device integration and the like.

the above examples are only for illustrating the technical idea and features of the present invention, and the purpose of the present invention is to enable those skilled in the art to understand the content of the present invention and implement the present invention, and not to limit the protection scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the spirit of the present invention should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention.