Three-dimensional monochromatic light field synthesis with a deflectable mirror array device

Abstract

We investigated the problem of complex scalar monochromatic light field synthesis with a deflectable mirror array device (DMAD). First, an analysis of the diffraction field produced by the device upon certain configurations is given assuming Fresnel diffraction. Specifically, we derived expressions for the diffraction field given the parameters of the illumination wave and the tilt angles of the mirrors. The results of the analysis are used in later stages of the work to compute the samples of light fields produced by mirrors at certain points in space. Second, the light field synthesis problem is formulated as a linear constrained optimization problem assuming that mirrors of the DMAD can be tilted among a finite number of different tilt angles. The formulation is initially developed in the analog domain. Transformation to digital domain is carried out assuming that desired fields are originating from spatially bounded objects. In particular, we arrived at a Dp = b type of problem with some constraints on p, where D and b are known, and p will be solved for and will determine the configuration of the device. This final form is directly amenable to digital processing. Finally, we adapt and apply matching pursuit and simulated annealing algorithms to this digital problem. Simulations are carried out to illustrate the results. Simulated annealing performs successful synthesis when supplied with good initial conditions. However, we should come up with systematic approaches for providing good initial conditions to the algorithm. We do not have an appropriate strategy currently. Our results also suggest that simulated annealing achieves better results than MP. However, if only a part of the mirrors can be used, and the rest can be turned off, the performance of MP is acceptable and it turns out to be stable for different types of fields.