The 'spy camera' that takes 3D photos in almost COMPLETE darkness by measuring photon particles in the air
The 'spy camera' that takes 3D
photos in almost COMPLETE darkness by measuring photon particles in the air
·
MIT scientists developed a camera that works
by reconstructing 3D images from photons reflected from barely visible objects
·
The technology could be used in next
generation spy cameras or to treat eyes that are easily damaged by bright light
·
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
Spies
operating under the cover of darkness might find that their job is about to get
easier as U.S. scientists have developed a camera that can take photographs of
objects and people that are only very dimly lit.
The
camera works by reconstructing 3D images from photons reflected from barely
visible objects.
The technology could be used in
next generation spy cameras or to treat eyes that are easily damaged by bright
light.
The
camera works by reconstructing 3D images from photons reflected from barely
visible objects. On the left is an image created by using current technologies,
while the image on the right uses the scientists' new device
HOW DOES
THE CAMERA WORK?
·
·
The camera works by scanning an object using low-intensity pulses
of laser light.
·
·
Each pulse of light is fired until a reflected photon is recorded
by a detector in the camera.
·
Using the algorithm, each illuminated location is matched to a
pixel in the image that is created.
·
·
The time it takes for photons from the laser pulses to be
reflected back from the object and read by the detector, provides information
about the depth of the object being examined.
·
Researchers from MIT have managed
to create sharp images of dimly lit objects using photons, which are elementary
particles that are not composed of smaller particles.
Using mathematics, they stitched
together information gleaned from the tiny particles of light, which were
recorded by a solid-state detector in the camera.
Electrical engineer Ahmed Kirmani
and his colleagues at the university developed an algorithm to look at
correlations between neighbouring parts of an object lit by pulses of light as
well as the science of low light measurements, Nature reported.
The time
it takes for photons from the laser pulses to be reflected back from the object
and read by the detector, provides information about the depth of the object
being examined
The
camera works by scanning an object using low-intensity pulses of laser light.
Each pulse is fired until a reflected photon is recorded by a detector and
using the algorithm, each illuminated location is matched to a pixel in the
image that is created
Mr Kirmani said they did not
invent a new type of laser or detector, but applied their algorithm to an
off-the-shelf photon detector.
The
camera works by scanning an object using low-intensity pulses of laser light.
Each
pulse is fired until a reflected photon is recorded by a detector and using the
algorithm, each illuminated location is matched to a pixel in the image that is
created, according to the journal Science.
The
camera uses a process made up of multiple steps to remove noise from the laser
scan made by detecting a single photon for each pixel. This process produces
the final image, which is sharper than that created by rival technologies
The time
it takes for photons from the laser pulses to be reflected back from the object
and read by the detector, provides information about the depth of the object
being examined.
This
technique is currently used in hi-tech devices to determine the nature of 3D
structures, but the team’s algorithm provides the same information using
one-hundredth the number of photons required by other light detection and
ranging techniques, which are used to map areas remotely.
The
images are in black and white as the laser produces light of a single
wavelength, but the device can pick out some different materials because of the
rate they reflect the laser’s colour.
Darker regions of objects tend to
need more pulses of light to hit them before being reflects, according to the
scientists.
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