Application of genetic algorithm on optimization of laser beam shaping.

This study proposes a newly developed optimization method for an aspherical lens system employed in a refractive laser beam shaping system, which performs transformations on laser spots such that they are transformed into flat-tops of any size. In this paper, a genetic algorithm (GA) with multipoint search is proposed as the optimization method, together with macro language in optical simulation software, in order to search for ideal and optimized parameters. In comparison to a traditional two-dimensional (2D) computational method, using the one-dimensional (1D) computation for laser beam shaping can search for the optimal solution approximately twice as fast (after experiments). The optimal results show that when the laser spot shrinks from 3 mm to 1.07 mm, 88% uniformity is achieved, and when the laser spot increases from 3 mm to 5.273 mm, 90% uniformity is achieved. The distances between the lenses for both systems described above are even smaller than the thickness for the first lens, enabling us to conclude that our design objectives of extra light and slimness in the system are achieved.

Applications of neural networks in human shape visual perception.

Advances in optical and electronic technology can immensely reduce noise in images and greatly enhance human visual recognition. However, it is still difficult for human eyes to identify low-resolution thermal images, due to the limits imposed by psychological and physiological factors. In addition, changes in monitor brightness and lens resolution may also interfere with visual recognition abilities. To overcome these limitations, we devised a suitable and effective recognition method which may help the military in revising the shape parameters of long-range targets. The modulation transfer function was used as a basis to extend the visual characteristics of the human visual model and a new model was produced through the incorporation of new shape parameters. The new human visual model was next used in combination with a backpropagation neural network for better recognition of low-resolution thermal images. The new model was then tested in experiments and the results showed that the accuracy rate of recognition steadily rose by over 95%.

Human vision model in relation to characteristics of shapes for the Mach band effect.

For human vision to recognize the contours of objects means that, as the contrast variation at the object's edges increases, so will the Mach band effect of human vision. This paper more deeply investigates the relationship between changes in the contours of an object and the Mach band effect of human vision. Based on lateral inhibition and the Mach band effect, we studied subjects' eyes as they watched images of different shapes under a fixed brightness at 34 cd/m2, with changes of contrast and spatial frequency. Three types of display were used: a television, a computer monitor, and a projector. For each display used, we conducted a separate experiment for each shape. Although the maximum values for the contrast sensitivity function curves of the displays were different, their variations were minimal. As the spatial frequency changed, the diminishing effect of the different lines also was minimal. However, as the shapes at the contour intersections were modified by the Mach band effect, a greater degree of variation occurred. In addition, as the spatial frequency at a contour intersection increased, the Mach band effect became lower, along with changes in the corresponding contrast sensitivity function curve. Our experimental results on the characteristics of human vision have led to what we believe is a new vision model based on tests with different shapes. This new model may be used for future development and implementation of an artificial vision system.

Study of optical design of three-dimensional digital ophthalmoscopes.

This study primarily involves using optical zoom structures to design a three-dimensional (3D) human-eye optical sensory system with infrared and visible light. According to experimental data on two-dimensional (2D) and 3D images, human-eye recognition of 3D images is substantially higher (approximately 13.182%) than that of 2D images. Thus, 3D images are more effective than 2D images when they are used at work or in high-recognition devices. In the optical system design, infrared and visible light wavebands were incorporated as light sources to perform simulations. The results can be used to facilitate the design of optical systems suitable for 3D digital ophthalmoscopes.

Optical design and testing: introduction.

Optical design and testing have numerous applications in industrial, military, consumer, and bio-medical settings. This issue features original research ranging from the optical design of image and nonimage optical stimuli for human perception, optics applications, bio-optics applications, displays, and solar energy systems to novel imaging modalities from deep UV to infrared spectral imaging, a systems perspective to imaging, as well as optical measurement. In addition, new concepts and trends for optics and further optical systems will be especially highlighted in this special issue.

Study of optical design of Blu-ray pickup head system with a liquid crystal element.

This paper proposes a newly developed optical design and an active compensation method for a Blu-ray pickup head system with a liquid crystal (LC) element. Different from traditional pickup lens design, this new optical design delivers performance as good as the conventional one but has more room for tolerance control, which plays a role in antishaking devices, such as portable Blu-ray players. A hole-pattern electrode and LC optics with external voltage input were employed to generate a symmetric nonuniform electrical field in the LC layer that directs LC molecules into the appropriate gradient refractive index distribution, resulting in the convergence or divergence of specific light beams. LC optics deliver fast and, most importantly, active compensation through optical design when errors occur. Simulations and tolerance analysis were conducted using Code V software, including various tolerance analyses, such as defocus, tilt, and decenter, and their related compensations. Two distinct Blu-ray pickup head system designs were examined in this study. In traditional Blu-ray pickup head system designs, the aperture stop is always set on objective lenses. In the study, the aperture stop is on the LC lens as a newly developed lens. The results revealed that an optical design with aperture stop set on the LC lens as an active compensation device successfully eliminated up to 57% of coma aberration compared with traditional optical designs so that this pickup head lens design will have more space for tolerance control.

Proposed fast performance evaluation of an imaging system with a discrete detector array.

This paper proposes a newly developed fast measurement of a modulation transfer function (MTF) optical system inclusive of on-axis and off-axis measurement. First, we discuss how a description of an imager in terms of its optical transfer function is not appropriate for a discrete imaging system when aliasing occurs, since these optical systems transform high spatial frequencies into low frequencies; we then measure how an efficient microscanning method could remove the aliasing effects from assigned telecentric optics and nontelecentric optics. A knife edge function and a slit function as a light source are employed in this measurement. The experiment with the newly designed MTF measurement system synchronizes on-axis and off-axis measurement. In addition, a microscan method with a specially written macro is introduced in this experiment to eliminate aliasing effects. After simulation and experimental analysis, first the slit function as a target delivers decent MTF repeatability for this newly developed MTF measurement system, which synchronizes with on-axis and off-axis measurement simply in 2 s after all equipment is ready and aligned. Second, after the six-step microscanning, aliasing will be eliminated to near zero in most cases. Finally, it is concluded that during the microscan, there is no difference between telecentric and nontelecentric optics.

Optical design and testing: introduction.

Optical design and testing has numerous applications in industrial, military, consumer, and medical settings. Assembling a complete imaging or nonimage optical system may require the integration of optics, mechatronics, lighting technology, optimization, ray tracing, aberration analysis, image processing, tolerance compensation, and display rendering. This issue features original research ranging from the optical design of image and nonimage optical stimuli for human perception, optics applications, bio-optics applications, 3D display, solar energy system, opto-mechatronics to novel imaging or nonimage modalities in visible and infrared spectral imaging, modulation transfer function measurement, and innovative interferometry.

Wide Field of View Under-Panel Optical Lens Design for Fingerprint Recognition of Smartphone.

Fingerprint recognition is a widely used biometric authentication method in LED-backlight smartphones. Due to the increasing demand for full-screen smartphones, under-display fingerprint recognition has become a popular trend. In this paper, we propose a design of an optical fingerprint recognition lens for under-display smartphones. The lens is composed of three plastic aspheric lenses, with an effective focal length (EFL) of 0.61 mm, a field of view (FOV) of 126°, and a total track length (TTL) of 2.54 mm. The image quality of the lens meets the target specifications, with MTF over 80% in the center FOV and over 70% in the 0.7 FOV, distortion less than 8% at an image height of 1.0 mm, and relative illumination (RI) greater than 25% at an image height of 1.0 mm. The lens also meets the current industry standards in terms of tolerance sensitivity and Monte Carlo analysis.

Realization of collimated specific profiles in rotation-symmetrical beam shaping system with divergent light source.

A simple numerical method is proposed for the design of two aspherical surfaces, each comprising multiple segmented refractive planes, for generating a collimated beam with a specific irradiance profile in a beam shaping system with a divergent light source. However, in real-world manufacturing, this performance improvement is obtained at the expense of a greater cost and complexity. Accordingly, a second algorithm is proposed which maximizes the number of rays passing through the central regions of the refractive planes in the second aspherical surface and hence minimizes the total number of segments required to achieve the same beam shaping performance. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated through the design of two aspherical lenses for generating collimated output beams with ring- and triangle-like irradiance profiles, respectively. The experimental results show that the beam profiles are in close agreement with the desired irradiance distributions. In general, the results indicate that the proposed method provides a versatile and efficient approach for achieving the desired collimated profile in beam forming systems with a divergent light source.

A study of optical design and optimization of zoom optics with liquid lenses through modified genetic algorithm.

A new concept for the optimization and optical design of miniature digital zoom optics with liquid lens elements is proposed in this research. The liquid lens elements are limited to the discrete configuration in order to obtain the optimal performance for digital zoom. We propose a newly developed digital zoom layout and optimization with a modified genetic algorism (GA) method, in order to meet the demands of a certain specification. The results show that we achieve a successful optical design and the optimization of the digital zoom optics with liquid optics, whose performance is greatly improved up to 48.68%, from the standpoint of on-axis spot size.

Optical design of automotive headlight system incorporating digital micromirror device.

In recent years, the popular adaptive front-lighting automobile headlight system has become a main emphasis of research that manufacturers will continue to focus great efforts on in the future. In this research we propose a new integral optical design for an automotive headlight system with an advanced light-emitting diode and digital micromirror device (DMD). Traditionally, automobile headlights have all been designed as a low beam light module, whereas the high beam light module still requires using accessory lamps. In anticipation of this new concept of integral optical design, we have researched and designed a single optical system with high and low beam capabilities. To switch on and off the beams, a DMD is typically used. Because DMDs have the capability of redirecting incident light into a specific angle, they also determine the shape of the high or low light beam in order to match the standard of headlight illumination. With collocation of the multicurvature reflection lens design, a DMD can control the light energy distribution and thereby reinforce the resolution of the light beam.

Study of optimization of an LCD light guide plate with neural network and genetic algorithm.

This paper proposes an optimization method for designing a prism-pattern LCD light guide plate (LGP) using a neural-network optical model and a real-valued genetic algorithm to achieve excellent luminance uniformity in the exiting light. This newly developed method is proposed as a way of solving the complicated optimization work for non-image optics due to the numbers of ray tracing. First, a neural-network optical model is based on a back-propagation neural network. Then the neural-network optical model is incorporated into a real-valued genetic algorithm to optimize the distribution density of the prism pattern. The results show that the 13-point luminance uniformity reaches an outstanding 92.09%.

Optical design and multiobjective optimization of miniature zoom optics with liquid lens element.

We propose an optical design for miniature 2.5x zoom fold optics with liquid elements. First, we reduce the volumetric size of the system. Second, this newly developed design significantly reduces the number of moving groups for this 2.5x miniature zoom optics (with only two moving groups compared with the four or five groups of the traditional zoom lens system), thanks to the assistance of liquid lens elements in particular. With regard to the extended optimization of this zoom optics, relative illuminance (RI) and the modulation transfer function (MTF) are considered because the more rays passing through the edge of the image, the lower will be the MTF, at high spatial frequencies in particular. Extended optimization employs the integration of the Taguchi method and the robust multiple criterion optimization (RMCO) approach. In this approach, a Pareto optimal robust design solution is set with the aid of a certain design of the experimental set, which uses analysis of variance results to quantify the relative dominance and significance of the design factors. It is concluded that the Taguchi method and RMCO approach is successful in optimizing the RI and MTF values of the fold 2.5x zoom lens system and yields better and more balanced performance, which is very difficult for the traditional least damping square method to achieve.

Prediction of the thermal imaging minimum resolvable (circle) temperature difference with neural network application.

Thermal imaging is an important technology in both national defense and the private sector. An advantage of thermal imaging is its ability to be deployed while fully engaged in duties, not limited by weather or the brightness of indoor or outdoor conditions. However, in an outdoor environment, many factors, including atmospheric decay, target shape, great distance, fog, temperature out of range and diffraction limits can lead to bad image formation, which directly affects the accuracy of object recognition. The visual characteristics of the human eye mean that it has a much better capacity for picture recognition under normal conditions than artificial intelligence does. However, conditions of interference significantly reduce this capacity for picture recognition for instance, fatigue impairs human eyesight. Hence, psychological and physiological factors can affect the result when the human eye is adopted to measure MRTD (minimum resolvable temperature difference) and MRCTD (minimum resolvable circle temperature difference). This study explores thermal imaging recognition, and presents a method for effectively choosing the characteristic values and processing the images fully. Neural network technology is successfully applied to recognize thermal imaging and predict MRTD and MRCTD (Appendix A), exceeding thermal imaging recognition under fatigue and the limits of the human eye.

Eliminating chromatic aberration in Gauss-type lens design using a novel genetic algorithm.

Two different types of Gauss lens design, which effectively eliminate primary chromatic aberration, are presented using an efficient genetic algorithm (GA). The current GA has to deal with too many targets in optical global optimization so that the performance is not much improved. Generally speaking, achromatic aberrations have a great relationship with variable glass sets for all elements. For optics whose design is roughly convergent, glass sets for optics will play a significant role in axial and lateral color aberration. Therefore better results might be derived from the optimal process of eliminating achromatic aberration, which could be carried out by finding feasible glass sets in advance. As an alternative, we propose a new optimization process by using a GA and involving theories of geometrical optics in order to select the best optical glass combination. Two Gauss-type lens designs are employed in this research. First, a telephoto lens design is sensitive to axial aberration because of its long focal length, and second, a wide-angle Gauss design is complicated by lateral color aberration at the extreme corners because Gauss design is well known not to deal well with wide-angle problems. Without numbers of higher chief rays passing the element, it is difficult to correct lateral color aberration altogether for the Gauss design. The results and conclusions show that the attempts to eliminate primary chromatic aberrations were successful.