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ImagingtechnologybasedonLIDARandcoherencethatfitsonatinychiphasbeendevelopedthatcanformahigh
resolution3dimensionalimageofanobjectonthescaleofmicrometers.
Futuresmartphonesandmobiledevicescouldusethistechnology,enablinguserstotakeasnapshotofanobjectviaan
integrated3Dimager.Thisimagecanthenbesenttoa3Dprinter,andwithinminutes,areplicaaccuratetowithin
micronsoftheoriginalobjectcanbereproducedallduetoatinyhighresolution3DimagerdevelopedatCaltech.
3Dimaginghasbeenaroundfordecades,butcurrentlythemostsensitivesystemsgenerallyaretoolargeandexpensive
tobeusedinconsumerapplications.
Acheap,compactyethighlyaccuratenewdeviceknownasananophotoniccoherentimager(NCI)promisestochange
that.Usinganinexpensivesiliconchiplessthanamillimetersquareinsize,theNCIprovidesthehighestdepth
measurementaccuracyofanysuchnanophotonic3Dimagingdevice.
Thework,doneinthelaboratoryofAliHajimiri,theThomasG.MyersProfessorofElectricalEngineeringintheDivisionof
EngineeringandAppliedScience,isdescribedOpticsExpress.
Inaregularcamera,eachpixelrepresentstheintensityofthelightreceivedfromaspecificpointintheimage,whichcould
benearorfarfromthecamerameaningthatthepixelsprovidenoinformationabouttherelativedistanceoftheobject
fromthecamera.Incontrast,eachpixelinanimagecreatedbytheCaltechteam'sNCIprovidesboththedistanceand
intensityinformation."Eachpixelonthechipisanindependentinterferometeraninstrumentthatusestheinterferenceof
lightwavestomakeprecisemeasurementswhichdetectsthephaseandfrequencyofthesignalinadditiontothe
intensity,"saysHajimiri.
ThenewchiputilizesanestablisheddetectionandrangingtechnologycalledLIDAR,inwhichatargetobjectis
illuminatedwithscanninglaserbeams.Thelightthatreflectsoffoftheobjectisthenanalyzedbasedonthewavelengthof
thelaserlightused,andtheLIDARcangatherinformationabouttheobject'ssizeanditsdistancefromthelasertocreate
animageofitssurroundings."ByhavinganarrayoftinyLIDARsonourcoherentimager,wecansimultaneouslyimage
differentpartsofanobjectorascenewithouttheneedforanymechanicalmovementswithintheimager,"Hajimirisays.

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Themicrometerresolutionimage,takenfromroughlyhalfameter(1.5feet)away,showstheheightofaUSpennyat
variouspoints.ImagecourtesyofAliHajimiri/Caltech.

SuchhighresolutionimagesandinformationprovidedbytheNCIaremadepossiblebecauseofanopticalconcept
knownascoherence.Iftwolightwavesarecoherent,thewaveshavethesamefrequency,andthepeaksandtroughsof
lightwavesareexactlyalignedwithoneanother.IntheNCI,theobjectisilluminatedwiththiscoherentlight.Thelightthat
isreflectedoffoftheobjectisthenpickedupbyonchipdetectors,calledgratingcouplers,thatserveas"pixels,"asthe
lightdetectedfromeachcouplerrepresentsonepixelonthe3Dimage.OntheNCIchip,thephase,frequency,and
intensityofthereflectedlightfromdifferentpointsontheobjectisdetectedandusedtodeterminetheexactdistanceofthe
targetpoint.
Becausethecoherentlighthasaconsistentfrequencyandwavelength,itisusedasareferencewithwhichtomeasure
thedifferencesinthereflectedlight.Inthisway,theNCIusesthecoherentlightassortofaverypreciserulertomeasure
thesizeoftheobjectandthedistanceofeachpointontheobjectfromthecamera.Thelightisthenconvertedintoan
electricalsignalthatcontainsintensityanddistanceinformationforeachpixelalloftheinformationneededtocreatea
3Dimage.
Theincorporationofcoherentlightnotonlyallows3Dimagingwiththehighestlevelofdepthmeasurementaccuracy
everachievedinsiliconphotonics,italsomakesitpossibleforthedevicetofitinaverysmallsize."Bycoupling,confining,
andprocessingthereflectedlightinsmallpipesonasiliconchip,wewereabletoscaleeachLIDARelementdowntojust
acoupleofhundredmicronsinsizesmallenoughthatwecanformanarrayof16ofthesecoherentdetectorsonan
activeareaof300micronsby300microns,"Hajimirisays.
ThefirstproofofconceptoftheNCIhasonly16coherentpixels,meaningthatthe3Dimagesitproducescanonlybe16
pixelsatanygiveninstance.However,theresearchersalsodevelopedamethodforimaginglargerobjectsbyfirst
imagingafourpixelbyfourpixelsection,thenmovingtheobjectinfourpixelincrementstoimagethenextsection.With
thismethod,theteamusedthedevicetoscanandcreatea3Dimageofthe"hillsandvalleys"onthefrontfaceofaU.S.
pennywithmicronlevelresolutionfromhalfameteraway.
Inthefuture,Hajimirisays,thatthecurrentarrayof16pixelscouldalsobeeasilyscaleduptohundredsofthousands.One
day,bycreatingsuchvastarraysofthesetinyLIDARs,theimagercouldbeappliedtoabroadrangeofapplicationsfrom
veryprecise3Dscanningandprintingtohelpingdriverlesscarsavoidcollisionstoimprovingmotionsensitivityin
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superfinehumanmachineinterfaces,wheretheslightestmovementsofapatient'seyesandthemostminutechangesina
patient'sheartbeatcanbedetectedonthefly.
"Thesmallsizeandhighqualityofthisnewchipbasedimagerwillresultinsignificantcostreductions,whichwillenable
thousandsnewofusesforsuchsystemsbyincorporatingthemintopersonaldevicessuchassmartphones,"hesays.
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