WorldWideScience

Sample records for angular resolution imaging

  1. High angular resolution at LBT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conrad, A.; Arcidiacono, C.; Bertero, M.; Boccacci, P.; Davies, A. G.; Defrere, D.; de Kleer, K.; De Pater, I.; Hinz, P.; Hofmann, K. H.; La Camera, A.; Leisenring, J.; Kürster, M.; Rathbun, J. A.; Schertl, D.; Skemer, A.; Skrutskie, M.; Spencer, J. R.; Veillet, C.; Weigelt, G.; Woodward, C. E.

    2015-12-01

    High angular resolution from ground-based observatories stands as a key technology for advancing planetary science. In the window between the angular resolution achievable with 8-10 meter class telescopes, and the 23-to-40 meter giants of the future, LBT provides a glimpse of what the next generation of instruments providing higher angular resolution will provide. We present first ever resolved images of an Io eruption site taken from the ground, images of Io's Loki Patera taken with Fizeau imaging at the 22.8 meter LBT [Conrad, et al., AJ, 2015]. We will also present preliminary analysis of two data sets acquired during the 2015 opposition: L-band fringes at Kurdalagon and an occultation of Loki and Pele by Europa (see figure). The light curves from this occultation will yield an order of magnitude improvement in spatial resolution along the path of ingress and egress. We will conclude by providing an overview of the overall benefit of recent and future advances in angular resolution for planetary science.

  2. Development of the super high angular resolution principle for X-ray imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chen; Zhang Shuangnan

    2011-01-01

    Development of the Super High Angular Resolution Principle (SHARP) for coded-mask X-ray imaging is presented. We prove that SHARP can be considered as a generalized coded mask imaging method with a coding pattern comprised of diffraction-interference fringes in the mask pattern. The angular resolution of SHARP can be improved by detecting the fringes more precisely than the mask's element size, i.e. by using a detector with a pixel size smaller than the mask's element size. The proposed mission SHARP-X for solar X-ray observations is also briefly discussed. (research papers)

  3. Angular resolution study of a combined gamma-neutron coded aperture imager for standoff detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ayaz-Maierhafer, Birsen; Hayward, Jason P.; Ziock, Klaus P.; Blackston, Matthew A.; Fabris, Lorenzo

    2013-01-01

    Nuclear threat source observables at standoff distances of tens of meters from mCi class sources include both gamma-rays and neutrons. This work uses simulations to investigate the effects of the angular resolution of a mobile gamma-ray and neutron coded aperture imaging system upon orphan source detection significance and specificity. The design requires maintaining high sensitivity and specificity while keeping the system size as compact as possible to reduce weight, footprint, and cost. A mixture of inorganic and organic scintillators was considered in the detector plane for high sensitivity to both gamma-rays and fast neutrons. For gamma-rays (100 to 2500 keV) and fission spectrum neutrons, angular resolutions of 1–9° and radiation angles of incidence appropriate for mobile search were evaluated. Detection significance for gamma-rays considers those events that contribute to the photopeak of the image pixel corresponding the orphan source location. For detection of fission spectrum neutrons, energy depositions above a set pulse shape discrimination threshold were tallied. The results show that the expected detection significance for the system at an angular resolution of 1° is significantly lower compared to its detection significance an angular resolution of ∼3–4°. An angular resolution of ∼3–4° is recommended both for better detection significance and improved false alarm rate, considering that finer angular resolution does not result in improved background rejection when the coded aperture method is used. Instead, over-pixelating the search space may result in an unacceptably high false alarm rate

  4. Finsler geometry on higher order tensor fields and applications to high angular resolution diffusion imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Astola, L.J.; Florack, L.M.J.

    2010-01-01

    We study 3D-multidirectional images, using Finsler geometry. The application considered here is in medical image analysis, specifically in High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) [24] of the brain. The goal is to reveal the architecture of the neural fibers in brain white matter. To the

  5. Finsler geometry on higher order tensor fields and applications to high angular resolution diffusion imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Astola, L.J.; Florack, L.M.J.

    2011-01-01

    We study 3D-multidirectional images, using Finsler geometry. The application considered here is in medical image analysis, specifically in High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) (Tuch et al. in Magn. Reson. Med. 48(6):1358–1372, 2004) of the brain. The goal is to reveal the architecture

  6. Finsler geometry on higher order tensor fields and applications to high angular resolution diffusion imaging.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Astola, L.; Florack, L.

    2011-01-01

    We study 3D-multidirectional images, using Finsler geometry. The application considered here is in medical image analysis, specifically in High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) (Tuch et al. in Magn. Reson. Med. 48(6):1358–1372, 2004) of the brain. The goal is to reveal the architecture

  7. Studying AGN Jets At Extreme Angular Resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruni, Gabriele

    2016-10-01

    RadioAstron is a 10m antenna orbiting on the Russian Speckt-R spacecraft, launched in 2011. Performing radio interferometry with a global array of ground telescopes, it is providing record angular resolution. The Key Science Project on AGN polarization is exploiting it to study in great detail the configuration of magnetic fields in AGN jets, and understand their formation and collimation. To date, the project has already achieved the highest angular resolution image ever obtained in Astronomy, and detected brightness temperatures exceeding the ones predicted by theory of AGN.

  8. Q-ball imaging models: comparison between high and low angular resolution diffusion-weighted MRI protocols for investigation of brain white matter integrity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Caiazzo, Giuseppina; Trojsi, Francesca; Cirillo, Mario; Tedeschi, Gioacchino [MRI Research Center SUN-FISM-Neurological Institute for Diagnosis and Care ' ' Hermitage Capodimonte' ' , Naples (Italy); Second University of Naples, Department of Medical, Surgical, Neurological, Metabolic and Aging Sciences, Naples (Italy); Esposito, Fabrizio [University of Salerno, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Baronissi (Salerno) (Italy); Maastricht University, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht (Netherlands)

    2016-02-15

    Q-ball imaging (QBI) is one of the typical data models for quantifying white matter (WM) anisotropy in diffusion-weighted MRI (DwMRI) studies. Brain and spinal investigation by high angular resolution DwMRI (high angular resolution imaging (HARDI)) protocols exhibits higher angular resolution in diffusion imaging compared to low angular resolution models, although with longer acquisition times. We aimed to assess the difference between QBI-derived anisotropy values from high and low angular resolution DwMRI protocols and their potential advantages or shortcomings in neuroradiology. Brain DwMRI data sets were acquired in seven healthy volunteers using both HARDI (b = 3000 s/mm{sup 2}, 54 gradient directions) and low angular resolution (b = 1000 s/mm{sup 2}, 32 gradient directions) acquisition schemes. For both sequences, tract of interest tractography and generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) measures were extracted by using QBI model and were compared between the two data sets. QBI tractography and voxel-wise analyses showed that some WM tracts, such as corpus callosum, inferior longitudinal, and uncinate fasciculi, were reconstructed as one-dominant-direction fiber bundles with both acquisition schemes. In these WM tracts, mean percent different difference in GFA between the two data sets was less than 5 %. Contrariwise, multidirectional fiber bundles, such as corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus, were more accurately depicted by HARDI acquisition scheme. Our results suggest that the design of optimal DwMRI acquisition protocols for clinical investigation of WM anisotropy by QBI models should consider the specific brain target regions to be explored, inducing researchers to a trade-off choice between angular resolution and acquisition time. (orig.)

  9. Ghost Imaging Using Orbital Angular Momentum

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    赵生妹; 丁建; 董小亮; 郑宝玉

    2011-01-01

    We present a novel encoding scheme in a ghost-imaging system using orbital angular momentum. In the signal arm, object spatial information is encoded as a phase matrix. For an N-grey-scale object, different phase matrices, varying from 0 to K with increment n/N, are used for different greyscales, and then they are modulated to a signal beam by a spatial light modulator. According to the conservation of the orbital angular momentum in the ghost imaging system, these changes will give different coincidence rates in measurement, and hence the object information can be extracted in the idler arm. By simulations and experiments, the results show that our scheme can improve the resolution of the image effectively. Compared with another encoding method using orbital angular momentum, our scheme has a better performance for both characters and the image object.%We present a novel encoding scheme in a ghost-imaging system using orbital angular momentum.In the signal arm,object spatial information is encoded as a phase matrix.For an N-grey-scale object,different phase matrices,varying from 0 to π with increment π/N,are used for different greyscales,and then they are modulated to a signal beam by a spatial light modulator.According to the conservation of the orbital angular momentum in the ghost imaging system,these changes will give different coincidence rates in measurement,and hence the object information can be extracted in the idler arm.By simulations and experiments,the results show that our scheme can improve the resolution of the image effectively.Compared with another encoding method using orbital angular momentum,our scheme has a better performance for both characters and the image object.

  10. A super-high angular resolution principle for coded-mask X-ray imaging beyond the diffraction limit of a single pinhole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chen; Zhang Shuangnan

    2009-01-01

    High angular resolution X-ray imaging is always useful in astrophysics and solar physics. In principle, it can be performed by using coded-mask imaging with a very long mask-detector distance. Previously, the diffraction-interference effect was thought to degrade coded-mask imaging performance dramatically at the low energy end with its very long mask-detector distance. The diffraction-interference effect is described with numerical calculations, and the diffraction-interference cross correlation reconstruction method (DICC) is developed in order to overcome the imaging performance degradation. Based on the DICC, a super-high angular resolution principle (SHARP) for coded-mask X-ray imaging is proposed. The feasibility of coded mask imaging beyond the diffraction limit of a single pinhole is demonstrated with simulations. With the specification that the mask element size is 50 x 50 μm 2 and the mask-detector distance is 50 m, the achieved angular resolution is 0.32 arcsec above about 10 keV and 0.36 arcsec at 1.24 keV (λ = 1 nm), where diffraction cannot be neglected. The on-axis source location accuracy is better than 0.02 arcsec. Potential applications for solar observations and wide-field X-ray monitors are also briefly discussed. (invited reviews)

  11. In vivo high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging of mouse brain at 16.4 Tesla.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Othman I Alomair

    Full Text Available Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI of the rodent brain at ultra-high magnetic fields (> 9.4 Tesla offers a higher signal-to-noise ratio that can be exploited to reduce image acquisition time or provide higher spatial resolution. However, significant challenges are presented due to a combination of longer T1 and shorter T2/T2* relaxation times and increased sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility resulting in severe local-field inhomogeneity artefacts from air pockets and bone/brain interfaces. The Stejskal-Tanner spin echo diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI sequence is often used in high-field rodent brain MRI due to its immunity to these artefacts. To accurately determine diffusion-tensor or fibre-orientation distribution, high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI with strong diffusion weighting (b >3000 s/mm2 and at least 30 diffusion-encoding directions are required. However, this results in long image acquisition times unsuitable for live animal imaging. In this study, we describe the optimization of HARDI acquisition parameters at 16.4T using a Stejskal-Tanner sequence with echo-planar imaging (EPI readout. EPI segmentation and partial Fourier encoding acceleration were applied to reduce the echo time (TE, thereby minimizing signal decay and distortion artefacts while maintaining a reasonably short acquisition time. The final HARDI acquisition protocol was achieved with the following parameters: 4 shot EPI, b = 3000 s/mm2, 64 diffusion-encoding directions, 125×150 μm2 in-plane resolution, 0.6 mm slice thickness, and 2h acquisition time. This protocol was used to image a cohort of adult C57BL/6 male mice, whereby the quality of the acquired data was assessed and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI derived parameters were measured. High-quality images with high spatial and angular resolution, low distortion and low variability in DTI-derived parameters were obtained, indicating that EPI-DWI is feasible at 16.4T to study animal models of white

  12. Spatial and Angular Resolution Enhancement of Light Fields Using Convolutional Neural Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gul, M. Shahzeb Khan; Gunturk, Bahadir K.

    2018-05-01

    Light field imaging extends the traditional photography by capturing both spatial and angular distribution of light, which enables new capabilities, including post-capture refocusing, post-capture aperture control, and depth estimation from a single shot. Micro-lens array (MLA) based light field cameras offer a cost-effective approach to capture light field. A major drawback of MLA based light field cameras is low spatial resolution, which is due to the fact that a single image sensor is shared to capture both spatial and angular information. In this paper, we present a learning based light field enhancement approach. Both spatial and angular resolution of captured light field is enhanced using convolutional neural networks. The proposed method is tested with real light field data captured with a Lytro light field camera, clearly demonstrating spatial and angular resolution improvement.

  13. Angular-resolution and material-characterization measurements for a dual-particle imaging system with mixed-oxide fuel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poitrasson-Rivière, Alexis, E-mail: alexispr@umich.edu [Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Polack, J. Kyle; Hamel, Michael C.; Klemm, Dietrich D.; Ito, Kai; McSpaden, Alexander T.; Flaska, Marek; Clarke, Shaun D.; Pozzi, Sara A. [Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Tomanin, Alice [Lainsa-Italia S.R.L., Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA (Italy); Peerani, Paolo [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, 21027 Ispra, VA (Italy)

    2015-10-11

    A dual-particle imaging (DPI) system, capable of simultaneously imaging fast neutrons and gamma rays, has been operated in the presence of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel to assess the system's angular resolution and material-characterization capabilities. The detection principle is based on the scattering physics of neutrons (elastic scattering) and gamma rays (Compton scattering) in organic and inorganic scintillators. The detection system is designed as a combination of a two-plane Compton camera and a neutron-scatter camera. The front plane consists of EJ-309 liquid scintillators and the back plane consists of interleaved EJ-309 and NaI(Tl) scintillators. MCNPX-PoliMi was used to optimize the geometry of the system and the resulting prototype was built and tested using a Cf-252 source as an SNM surrogate. A software package was developed to acquire and process data in real time. The software was used for a measurement campaign to assess the angular resolution of the imaging system with MOX samples. Measurements of two MOX canisters of similar isotopics and intensity were performed for 6 different canister separations (from 5° to 30°, corresponding to distances of 21 cm and 131 cm, respectively). The measurements yielded a minimum separation of 20° at 2.5 m (86-cm separation) required to see 2 separate hot spots. Additionally, the results displayed good agreement with MCNPX-PoliMi simulations. These results indicate an angular resolution between 15° and 20°, given the 5° step. Coupled with its large field of view, and its capability to differentiate between spontaneous fission and (α,n) sources, the DPI system shows its potential for nuclear-nonproliferation applications.

  14. The usability of the optical parametric amplification of light for high-angular-resolution imaging and fast astrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurek, A. R.; Stachowski, A.; Banaszek, K.; Pollo, A.

    2018-05-01

    High-angular-resolution imaging is crucial for many applications in modern astronomy and astrophysics. The fundamental diffraction limit constrains the resolving power of both ground-based and spaceborne telescopes. The recent idea of a quantum telescope based on the optical parametric amplification (OPA) of light aims to bypass this limit for the imaging of extended sources by an order of magnitude or more. We present an updated scheme of an OPA-based device and a more accurate model of the signal amplification by such a device. The semiclassical model that we present predicts that the noise in such a system will form so-called light speckles as a result of light interference in the optical path. Based on this model, we analysed the efficiency of OPA in increasing the angular resolution of the imaging of extended targets and the precise localization of a distant point source. According to our new model, OPA offers a gain in resolved imaging in comparison to classical optics. For a given time-span, we found that OPA can be more efficient in localizing a single distant point source than classical telescopes.

  15. A hard x-ray spectrometer for high angular resolution observations of cosmic sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hailey, C.J.; Ziock, K.P.; Harrison, F.; Kahn, S.M.; Liedahl, D.; Lubin, P.M.; Seiffert, M.

    1988-01-01

    LAXRIS (large area x-ray imaging spectrometer) is an experimental, balloon-borne, hard x-ray telescope that consists of a coaligned array of x-ray imaging spectrometer modules capable of obtaining high angular resolution (1--3 arcminutes) with moderate energy resolution in the 20- to 300-keV region. Each spectrometer module consists of a CsI(Na) crystal coupled to a position-sensitive phototube with a crossed-wire, resistive readout. Imaging is provided by a coded aperture mask with a 4-m focal length. The high angular resolution is coupled with rather large area (/approximately/800 cm 2 ) to provide good sensitivity. Results are presented on performance and overall design. Sensitivity estimates are derived from a Monte-Carlo code developed to model the LAXRIS response to background encountered at balloon altitudes. We discuss a variety of observations made feasible by high angular resolution. For instance, spatially resolving the nonthermal x-ray emission from clusters of galaxies is suggested as an ideal program for LAXRIS. 15 refs., 5 figs

  16. Adaptive Angular Sampling for SPECT Imaging

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Nan; Meng, Ling-Jian

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents an analytical approach for performing adaptive angular sampling in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. It allows for a rapid determination of the optimum sampling strategy that minimizes image variance in regions-of-interest (ROIs). The proposed method consists of three key components: (a) a set of close-form equations for evaluating image variance and resolution attainable with a given sampling strategy, (b) a gradient-based algor...

  17. Spatial Angular Compounding Technique for H-Scan Ultrasound Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khairalseed, Mawia; Xiong, Fangyuan; Kim, Jung-Whan; Mattrey, Robert F; Parker, Kevin J; Hoyt, Kenneth

    2018-01-01

    H-Scan is a new ultrasound imaging technique that relies on matching a model of pulse-echo formation to the mathematics of a class of Gaussian-weighted Hermite polynomials. This technique may be beneficial in the measurement of relative scatterer sizes and in cancer therapy, particularly for early response to drug treatment. Because current H-scan techniques use focused ultrasound data acquisitions, spatial resolution degrades away from the focal region and inherently affects relative scatterer size estimation. Although the resolution of ultrasound plane wave imaging can be inferior to that of traditional focused ultrasound approaches, the former exhibits a homogeneous spatial resolution throughout the image plane. The purpose of this study was to implement H-scan using plane wave imaging and investigate the impact of spatial angular compounding on H-scan image quality. Parallel convolution filters using two different Gaussian-weighted Hermite polynomials that describe ultrasound scattering events are applied to the radiofrequency data. The H-scan processing is done on each radiofrequency image plane before averaging to get the angular compounded image. The relative strength from each convolution is color-coded to represent relative scatterer size. Given results from a series of phantom materials, H-scan imaging with spatial angular compounding more accurately reflects the true scatterer size caused by reductions in the system point spread function and improved signal-to-noise ratio. Preliminary in vivo H-scan imaging of tumor-bearing animals suggests this modality may be useful for monitoring early response to chemotherapeutic treatment. Overall, H-scan imaging using ultrasound plane waves and spatial angular compounding is a promising approach for visualizing the relative size and distribution of acoustic scattering sources. Copyright © 2018 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Report on the ESO Workshop ''Astronomy at High Angular Resolution''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boffin, H.; Schmidtobreick, L.; Hussain, G.; Berger, J.-Ph.

    2015-03-01

    A workshop took place in Brussels in 2000 on astrotomography, a generic term for indirect mapping techniques that can be applied to a huge variety of astrophysical systems, ranging from planets, single stars and binaries to active galactic nuclei. It appeared to be timely to revisit the topic given the many past, recent and forthcoming improvements in telescopes and instrumentation. We therefore decided to repeat the astrotomography workshop, but to put it into the much broader context of high angular resolution astronomy. Many techniques, from lucky and speckle imaging, adaptive optics to interferometry, are now widely employed to achieve high angular resolution and they have led to an amazing number of new discoveries. A summary of the workshop themes is presented.

  19. Understanding deformation with high angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Britton, T. B.; Hickey, J. L. R.

    2018-01-01

    High angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD) affords an increase in angular resolution, as compared to ‘conventional’ Hough transform based EBSD, of two orders of magnitude, enabling measurements of relative misorientations of 1 x 10-4 rads (~ 0.006°) and changes in (deviatoric) lattice strain with a precision of 1 x 10-4. This is achieved through direct comparison of two or more diffraction patterns using sophisticated cross-correlation based image analysis routines. Image shifts between zone axes in the two-correlated diffraction pattern are measured with sub-pixel precision and this realises the ability to measure changes in interplanar angles and lattice orientation with a high degree of sensitivity. These shifts are linked to strains and lattice rotations through simple geometry. In this manuscript, we outline the basis of the technique and two case studies that highlight its potential to tackle real materials science challenges, such as deformation patterning in polycrystalline alloys.

  20. Angular difference feature extraction for urban scene classification using ZY-3 multi-angle high-resolution satellite imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xin; Chen, Huijun; Gong, Jianya

    2018-01-01

    Spaceborne multi-angle images with a high-resolution are capable of simultaneously providing spatial details and three-dimensional (3D) information to support detailed and accurate classification of complex urban scenes. In recent years, satellite-derived digital surface models (DSMs) have been increasingly utilized to provide height information to complement spectral properties for urban classification. However, in such a way, the multi-angle information is not effectively exploited, which is mainly due to the errors and difficulties of the multi-view image matching and the inaccuracy of the generated DSM over complex and dense urban scenes. Therefore, it is still a challenging task to effectively exploit the available angular information from high-resolution multi-angle images. In this paper, we investigate the potential for classifying urban scenes based on local angular properties characterized from high-resolution ZY-3 multi-view images. Specifically, three categories of angular difference features (ADFs) are proposed to describe the angular information at three levels (i.e., pixel, feature, and label levels): (1) ADF-pixel: the angular information is directly extrapolated by pixel comparison between the multi-angle images; (2) ADF-feature: the angular differences are described in the feature domains by comparing the differences between the multi-angle spatial features (e.g., morphological attribute profiles (APs)). (3) ADF-label: label-level angular features are proposed based on a group of urban primitives (e.g., buildings and shadows), in order to describe the specific angular information related to the types of primitive classes. In addition, we utilize spatial-contextual information to refine the multi-level ADF features using superpixel segmentation, for the purpose of alleviating the effects of salt-and-pepper noise and representing the main angular characteristics within a local area. The experiments on ZY-3 multi-angle images confirm that the proposed

  1. Dense sampled transmission matrix for high resolution angular spectrum imaging through turbid media via compressed sensing (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Hwanchol; Yoon, Changhyeong; Choi, Wonshik; Eom, Tae Joong; Lee, Heung-No

    2016-03-01

    We provide an approach to improve the quality of image reconstruction in wide-field imaging through turbid media (WITM). In WITM, a calibration stage which measures the transmission matrix (TM), the set of responses of turbid medium to a set of plane waves with different incident angles, is preceded to the image recovery. Then, the TM is used for estimation of object image in image recovery stage. In this work, we aim to estimate highly resolved angular spectrum and use it for high quality image reconstruction. To this end, we propose to perform a dense sampling for TM measurement in calibration stage with finer incident angle spacing. In conventional approaches, incident angle spacing is made to be large enough so that the columns in TM are out of memory effect of turbid media. Otherwise, the columns in TM are correlated and the inversion becomes difficult. We employ compressed sensing (CS) for a successful high resolution angular spectrum recovery with dense sampled TM. CS is a relatively new information acquisition and reconstruction framework and has shown to provide superb performance in ill-conditioned inverse problems. We observe that the image quality metrics such as contrast-to-noise ratio and mean squared error are improved and the perceptual image quality is improved with reduced speckle noise in the reconstructed image. This results shows that the WITM performance can be improved only by executing dense sampling in the calibration stage and with an efficient signal reconstruction framework without elaborating the overall optical imaging systems.

  2. Astronomy at high angular resolution a compendium of techniques in the visible and near-infrared

    CERN Document Server

    Hussain, Gaitee; Berger, Jean-Philippe; Schmidtobreick, Linda

    2016-01-01

    This book offers an essential compendium of astronomical high-resolution techniques. Recent years have seen considerable developments in such techniques, which are critical to advances in many areas of astronomy. As reflected in the book, these techniques can be divided into direct methods, interferometry, and reconstruction methods, and can be applied to a huge variety of astrophysical systems, ranging from planets, single stars and binaries to active galactic nuclei, providing angular resolution in the micro- to tens of milliarcsecond scales. Written by experts in their fields, the chapters cover adaptive optics, aperture masking imaging, spectra disentangling, interferometry, lucky imaging, Roche tomography, imaging with interferometry, interferometry of AGN, AGN reverberation mapping, Doppler- and magnetic imaging of stellar surfaces, Doppler tomography, eclipse mapping, Stokes imaging, and stellar tomography. This book is intended to enable a next generation of astronomers to apply high-resolution techni...

  3. Angular resolution of the gaseous micro-pixel detector Gossip

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilevych, Y.; Blanco Carballo, V.; van Dijk, M.; Fransen, M.; van der Graaf, H.; Hartjes, F.; Hessey, N.; Koppert, W.; Nauta, S.; Rogers, M.; Romaniouk, A.; Veenhof, R.

    2011-06-01

    Gossip is a gaseous micro-pixel detector with a very thin drift gap intended for a high rate environment like at the pixel layers of ATLAS at the sLHC. The detector outputs not only the crossing point of a traversing MIP, but also the angle of the track, thus greatly simplifying track reconstruction. In this paper we describe a testbeam experiment to examine the angular resolution of the reconstructed track segments in Gossip. We used here the low diffusion gas mixture DME/CO 2 50/50. An angular resolution of 20 mrad for perpendicular tracks could be obtained from a 1.5 mm thin drift volume. However, for the prototype detector used at the testbeam experiment, the resolution of slanting tracks was worsened by poor time resolution of the pixel chip used.

  4. Angular resolution of the gaseous micro-pixel detector Gossip

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bilevych, Y.; Blanco Carballo, V.; Dijk, M. van; Fransen, M.; Graaf, H. van der; Hartjes, F.; Hessey, N.; Koppert, W.; Nauta, S. [Nikhef, P.O. Box 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Rogers, M. [Radboud University, P.O. Box 9102, 6500HC Nijmegen (Netherlands); Romaniouk, A.; Veenhof, R. [CERN, CH-1211, Geneve 23 (Switzerland)

    2011-06-15

    Gossip is a gaseous micro-pixel detector with a very thin drift gap intended for a high rate environment like at the pixel layers of ATLAS at the sLHC. The detector outputs not only the crossing point of a traversing MIP, but also the angle of the track, thus greatly simplifying track reconstruction. In this paper we describe a testbeam experiment to examine the angular resolution of the reconstructed track segments in Gossip. We used here the low diffusion gas mixture DME/CO{sub 2} 50/50. An angular resolution of 20 mrad for perpendicular tracks could be obtained from a 1.5 mm thin drift volume. However, for the prototype detector used at the testbeam experiment, the resolution of slanting tracks was worsened by poor time resolution of the pixel chip used.

  5. Angular resolution of the gaseous micro-pixel detector Gossip

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bilevych, Y.; Blanco Carballo, V.; Dijk, M. van; Fransen, M.; Graaf, H. van der; Hartjes, F.; Hessey, N.; Koppert, W.; Nauta, S.; Rogers, M.; Romaniouk, A.; Veenhof, R.

    2011-01-01

    Gossip is a gaseous micro-pixel detector with a very thin drift gap intended for a high rate environment like at the pixel layers of ATLAS at the sLHC. The detector outputs not only the crossing point of a traversing MIP, but also the angle of the track, thus greatly simplifying track reconstruction. In this paper we describe a testbeam experiment to examine the angular resolution of the reconstructed track segments in Gossip. We used here the low diffusion gas mixture DME/CO 2 50/50. An angular resolution of 20 mrad for perpendicular tracks could be obtained from a 1.5 mm thin drift volume. However, for the prototype detector used at the testbeam experiment, the resolution of slanting tracks was worsened by poor time resolution of the pixel chip used.

  6. Trade-off between angular and spatial resolutions in in vivo fiber tractography

    OpenAIRE

    Vos, Sjoerd B.; Aksoy, Murat; Han, Zhaoying; Holdsworth, Samantha J.; Maclaren, Julian; Viergever, Max A.; Leemans, Alexander; Bammer, Roland

    2016-01-01

    Tractography is becoming an increasingly popular method to reconstruct white matter connections in vivo. The diffusion MRI data that tractography is based on requires a high angular resolution to resolve crossing fibers whereas high spatial resolution is required to distinguish kissing from crossing fibers. However, scan time increases with increasing spatial and angular resolutions, which can become infeasible in clinical settings. Here we investigated the trade-off between spatial and angul...

  7. High-resolution imaging gamma-ray spectroscopy with externally segmented germanium detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callas, J. L.; Mahoney, W. A.; Varnell, L. S.; Wheaton, W. A.

    1993-01-01

    Externally segmented germanium detectors promise a breakthrough in gamma-ray imaging capabilities while retaining the superb energy resolution of germanium spectrometers. An angular resolution of 0.2 deg becomes practical by combining position-sensitive germanium detectors having a segment thickness of a few millimeters with a one-dimensional coded aperture located about a meter from the detectors. Correspondingly higher angular resolutions are possible with larger separations between the detectors and the coded aperture. Two-dimensional images can be obtained by rotating the instrument. Although the basic concept is similar to optical or X-ray coded-aperture imaging techniques, several complicating effects arise because of the penetrating nature of gamma rays. The complications include partial transmission through the coded aperture elements, Compton scattering in the germanium detectors, and high background count rates. Extensive electron-photon Monte Carlo modeling of a realistic detector/coded-aperture/collimator system has been performed. Results show that these complicating effects can be characterized and accounted for with no significant loss in instrument sensitivity.

  8. Quantifying and containing the curse of high resolution coronal imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Delouille

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Future missions such as Solar Orbiter (SO, InterHelioprobe, or Solar Probe aim at approaching the Sun closer than ever before, with on board some high resolution imagers (HRI having a subsecond cadence and a pixel area of about (80 km2 at the Sun during perihelion. In order to guarantee their scientific success, it is necessary to evaluate if the photon counts available at these resolution and cadence will provide a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR. For example, if the inhomogeneities in the Quiet Sun emission prevail at higher resolution, one may hope to locally have more photon counts than in the case of a uniform source. It is relevant to quantify how inhomogeneous the quiet corona will be for a pixel pitch that is about 20 times smaller than in the case of SoHO/EIT, and 5 times smaller than TRACE. We perform a first step in this direction by analyzing and characterizing the spatial intermittency of Quiet Sun images thanks to a multifractal analysis. We identify the parameters that specify the scale-invariance behavior. This identification allows next to select a family of multifractal processes, namely the Compound Poisson Cascades, that can synthesize artificial images having some of the scale-invariance properties observed on the recorded images. The prevalence of self-similarity in Quiet Sun coronal images makes it relevant to study the ratio between the SNR present at SoHO/EIT images and in coarsened images. SoHO/EIT images thus play the role of "high resolution" images, whereas the "low-resolution" coarsened images are rebinned so as to simulate a smaller angular resolution and/or a larger distance to the Sun. For a fixed difference in angular resolution and in Spacecraft-Sun distance, we determine the proportion of pixels having a SNR preserved at high resolution given a particular increase in effective area. If scale-invariance continues to prevail at smaller scales, the conclusion reached with SoHO/EIT images can be transposed

  9. Statistical Angular Resolution Limit for Ultrawideband MIMO Noise Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoli Zhou

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The two-dimensional angular resolution limit (ARL of elevation and azimuth for MIMO radar with ultrawideband (UWB noise waveforms is investigated using statistical resolution theory. First, the signal model of monostatic UWB MIMO noise radar is established in a 3D reference frame. Then, the statistical angular resolution limits (SARLs of two closely spaced targets are derived using the detection-theoretic and estimation-theoretic approaches, respectively. The detection-theoretic approach is based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT with given probabilities of false alarm and detection, while the estimation-theoretic approach is based on Smith’s criterion which involves the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB. Furthermore, the relationship between the two approaches is presented, and the factors affecting the SARL, that is, detection parameters, transmit waveforms, array geometry, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, and parameters of target (i.e., radar cross section (RCS and direction, are analyzed. Compared with the conventional radar resolution theory defined by the ambiguity function, the SARL reflects the practical resolution ability of radar and can provide an optimization criterion for radar system design.

  10. Simple Fourier optics formalism for high-angular-resolution systems and nulling interferometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hénault, François

    2010-03-01

    Reviewed are various designs of advanced, multiaperture optical systems dedicated to high-angular-resolution imaging or to the detection of exoplanets by nulling interferometry. A simple Fourier optics formalism applicable to both imaging arrays and nulling interferometers is presented, allowing their basic theoretical relationships to be derived as convolution or cross-correlation products suitable for fast and accurate computation. Several unusual designs, such as a "superresolving telescope" utilizing a mosaicking observation procedure or a free-flying, axially recombined interferometer are examined, and their performance in terms of imaging and nulling capacity are assessed. In all considered cases, it is found that the limiting parameter is the diameter of the individual telescopes. A final section devoted to nulling interferometry shows an apparent superiority of axial versus multiaxial recombining schemes. The entire study is valid only in the framework of first-order geometrical optics and scalar diffraction theory. Furthermore, it is assumed that all entrance subapertures are optically conjugated with their associated exit pupils.

  11. Development of insula connectivity between ages 12 and 30 revealed by high angular resolution diffusion imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, Emily L; Jahanshad, Neda; McMahon, Katie L; de Zubicaray, Greig I; Martin, Nicholas G; Hickie, Ian B; Toga, Arthur W; Wright, Margaret J; Thompson, Paul M

    2014-04-01

    The insula, hidden deep within the Sylvian fissures, has proven difficult to study from a connectivity perspective. Most of our current information on the anatomical connectivity of the insula comes from studies of nonhuman primates and post mortem human dissections. To date, only two neuroimaging studies have successfully examined the connectivity of the insula. Here we examine how the connectivity of the insula develops between ages 12 and 30, in 307 young adolescent and adult subjects scanned with 4-Tesla high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). The density of fiber connections between the insula and the frontal and parietal cortex decreased with age, but the connection density between the insula and the temporal cortex generally increased with age. This trajectory is in line with well-known patterns of cortical development in these regions. In addition, males and females showed different developmental trajectories for the connection between the left insula and the left precentral gyrus. The insula plays many different roles, some of them affected in neuropsychiatric disorders; this information on the insula's connectivity may help efforts to elucidate mechanisms of brain disorders in which it is implicated. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. A two-dimensional wide-angle proton spectrometer with improved angular resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Su; Deng, Yanqing; Ge, Xulei; Fang, Yuan; Wei, Wenqing; Gao, Jian; Liu, Feng; Chen, Min; Liao, Guoqian; Li, Yutong; Zhao, Li; Ma, Yanyun

    2017-01-01

    We present an improvement design of a two-dimensional (2D) angular-resolved proton spectrometer for wide-angle measurement of proton beams from high-intensity laser-solid interactions. By using a 2D selective entrance pinhole array with different periods in orthogonal axes, the angular resolution along one dimension is improved by a factor of 6.7. This improvement provides the accessibility to detect the spatial fine structures of the proton energy spectrum.

  13. A two-dimensional wide-angle proton spectrometer with improved angular resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Su [Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Deng, Yanqing [Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); College of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073 (China); Ge, Xulei [Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China); Fang, Yuan; Wei, Wenqing; Gao, Jian; Liu, Feng; Chen, Min [Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Liao, Guoqian; Li, Yutong [Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Zhao, Li [State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China); Ma, Yanyun [College of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); and others

    2017-07-11

    We present an improvement design of a two-dimensional (2D) angular-resolved proton spectrometer for wide-angle measurement of proton beams from high-intensity laser-solid interactions. By using a 2D selective entrance pinhole array with different periods in orthogonal axes, the angular resolution along one dimension is improved by a factor of 6.7. This improvement provides the accessibility to detect the spatial fine structures of the proton energy spectrum.

  14. Investigation of angular and axial smoothing of PET data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daube-Witherspoon, M.E.; Carson, R.E.

    1996-01-01

    Radial filtering of emission and transmission data is routinely performed in PET during reconstruction in order to reduce image noise. Angular smoothing is not typically done, due to the introduction of a non-uniform resolution loss; axial filtering is also not usually performed on data acquired in 2D mode. The goal of this paper was to assess the effects of angular and axial smoothing on noise and resolution. Angular and axial smoothing was incorporated into the reconstruction process on the Scanditronix PC2048-15B brain PET scanner. In-plane spatial resolution and noise reduction were measured for different amounts of radial and angular smoothing. For radial positions away from the center of the scanner, noise reduction and degraded tangential resolution with no loss of radial resolution were seen. Near the center, no resolution loss was observed, but there was also no reduction in noise for angular filters up to a 7 degrees FWHM. These results can be understood by considering the combined effects of smoothing projections across rows (angles) and then summing (backprojecting). Thus, angular smoothing is not optimal due to its anisotropic noise reduction and resolution degradation properties. However, uniform noise reduction comparable to that seen with radial filtering can be achieved with axial smoothing of transmission data. The axial results suggest that combined radial and axial transmission smoothing could lead to improved noise characteristics with more isotropic resolution degradation

  15. High resolution multiplexed functional imaging in live embryos (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Dongli; Zhou, Weibin; Peng, Leilei

    2017-02-01

    Fourier multiplexed fluorescence lifetime imaging (FmFLIM) scanning laser optical tomography (FmFLIM-SLOT) combines FmFLIM and Scanning laser optical tomography (SLOT) to perform multiplexed 3D FLIM imaging of live embryos. The system had demonstrate multiplexed functional imaging of zebrafish embryos genetically express Foster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET) sensors. However, previous system has a 20 micron resolution because the focused Gaussian beam diverges quickly from the focused plane, makes it difficult to achieve high resolution imaging over a long projection depth. Here, we present a high-resolution FmFLIM-SLOT system with achromatic Bessel beam, which achieves 3 micron resolution in 3D deep tissue imaging. In Bessel-FmFLIM-SLOT, multiple laser excitation lines are firstly intensity modulated by a Michelson interferometer with a spinning polygon mirror optical delay line, which enables Fourier multiplexed multi-channel lifetime measurements. Then, a spatial light modulator and a prism are used to transform the modulated Gaussian laser beam to an achromatic Bessel beam. The achromatic Bessel beam scans across the whole specimen with equal angular intervals as sample rotated. After tomography reconstruction and the frequency domain lifetime analysis method, both the 3D intensity and lifetime image of multiple excitation-emission can be obtained. Using Bessel-FmFLIM-SLOT system, we performed cellular-resolution FLIM tomography imaging of live zebrafish embryo. Genetically expressed FRET sensors in these embryo will allow non-invasive observation of multiple biochemical processes in vivo.

  16. Vibration-dependent angular anisotropy in the photodetachment of O{sub 2}{sup -}, viewed with velocity-map imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gibson, S T; Cavanagh, S J; Lewis, B R [Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 (Australia); Gascooke, J R [School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences, Flinders University, SA 5001 (Australia); Mabbs, R [Department of Chemistry, Washington University, St Louis MO 63930-4899 (United States); Sanov, A, E-mail: Stephen.Gibson@anu.edu.a, E-mail: Steven.Cavanagh@anu.edu.a [Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721-0041 (United States)

    2009-11-01

    The photodetachment spectrum of O{sub 2}{sup -} has been measured at a number of wavelengths using velocity-map imaging. The electron kinetic-energy resolution (< 5 meV) is sufficient to resolve the anion fine-structure splitting, vibrational and electronic structure. The electron angular distribution varies with the electron kinetic-energy, with a different behaviour for each vibronic band.

  17. γ-ray telescopes using conversions to e+e- pairs: event generators, angular resolution and polarimetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gros, P.; Bernard, D.

    2017-02-01

    We benchmark various available event generators in Geant4 and EGS5 in the light of ongoing projects for high angular-resolution pair-conversion telescopes at low energy. We compare the distributions of key kinematic variables extracted from the geometry of the three final state particles. We validate and use as reference an exact generator using the full 5D differential cross-section of the conversion process. We focus in particular on the effect of the unmeasured recoiling nucleus on the angular resolution. We show that for high resolution trackers, the choice of the generator affects the estimated resolution of the telescope. We also show that the current available generator are unable to describe accurately a linearly polarised photon source.

  18. Compact and high-resolution optical orbital angular momentum sorter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chenhao Wan

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available A compact and high-resolution optical orbital angular momentum (OAM sorter is proposed and demonstrated. The sorter comprises a quadratic fan-out mapper and a dual-phase corrector positioned in the pupil plane and the Fourier plane, respectively. The optical system is greatly simplified compared to previous demonstrations of OAM sorting, and the performance in resolution and efficiency is maintained. A folded configuration is set up using a single reflective spatial light modulator (SLM to demonstrate the validity of the scheme. The two phase elements are implemented on the left and right halves of the SLM and connected by a right-angle prism. Experimental results demonstrate the high resolution of the compact OAM sorter, and the current limit in efficiency can be overcome by replacing with transmissive SLMs and removing the beam splitters. This novel scheme paves the way for the miniaturization and integration of high-resolution OAM sorters.

  19. Super-resolution and ultra-sensitivity of angular rotation measurement based on SU(1,1) interferometers using homodyne detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jun; Li, Shitao; Wei, Dong; Gao, Hong; Li, Fuli

    2018-02-01

    We theoretically explore the angular rotation measurement sensitivity of SU(1,1) interferometers with a coherent beam and a vacuum beam input by using orbital angular momentum (OAM). Compared with the OAM in an SU(2) interferometer, the SU(1,1) interferometer employing homodyne detection can further surpass the angular rotation shot noise limit \\tfrac{1}{2l\\sqrt{N}} and improve the resolution and sensitivity of angular rotation measurement. Two models are considered, one is that OAM is carried by a probe beam and the other one is a pump beam with the OAM. The sensitivity can be improved by higher OAM and nonlinear process with a large gain. The resolution can be enhanced in the case that the pump beam has OAM. Moreover, we present a brief discussion on the variation of resolution and sensitivity in the presence of photon loss.

  20. High angular resolution diffusion imaging : processing & visualization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Prckovska, V.

    2010-01-01

    Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that can map the orientation architecture of neural tissues in a completely non-invasive way by measuring the directional specificity (anisotropy) of the local water diffusion. However, in areas of complex fiber

  1. IMPROVING VERTICAL AND LATERAL RESOLUTION BY STRETCH-FREE, HORIZON-ORIENTED IMAGING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pérez Gabriel

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available The pre-stack Kirchhoff migration is implemented for delivering wavelet stretch-free imaged data, if the migration is (ideally limited to the wavelet corresponding to a target horizon. Avoiding wavelet stretch provides long-offset imaged data, far beyond what is reached in conventional migration and results in images from the target with improved vertical and lateral resolution and angular illumination. Increasing the range of imaged offsets also increases the sensitivity to event-crossing, velocity errors and anisotropy. These issues must be addressed to fully achieve the greatest potential of this technique. These ideas are further illustrated with a land survey seismic data application in Texas, U.S.

  2. Noise and analyzer-crystal angular position analysis for analyzer-based phase-contrast imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, Keivan; Li, Jun; Muehleman, Carol; Brankov, Jovan G.

    2014-04-01

    The analyzer-based phase-contrast x-ray imaging (ABI) method is emerging as a potential alternative to conventional radiography. Like many of the modern imaging techniques, ABI is a computed imaging method (meaning that images are calculated from raw data). ABI can simultaneously generate a number of planar parametric images containing information about absorption, refraction, and scattering properties of an object. These images are estimated from raw data acquired by measuring (sampling) the angular intensity profile of the x-ray beam passed through the object at different angular positions of the analyzer crystal. The noise in the estimated ABI parametric images depends upon imaging conditions like the source intensity (flux), measurements angular positions, object properties, and the estimation method. In this paper, we use the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) to quantify the noise properties in parametric images and to investigate the effect of source intensity, different analyzer-crystal angular positions and object properties on this bound, assuming a fixed radiation dose delivered to an object. The CRLB is the minimum bound for the variance of an unbiased estimator and defines the best noise performance that one can obtain regardless of which estimation method is used to estimate ABI parametric images. The main result of this paper is that the variance (hence the noise) in parametric images is directly proportional to the source intensity and only a limited number of analyzer-crystal angular measurements (eleven for uniform and three for optimal non-uniform) are required to get the best parametric images. The following angular measurements only spread the total dose to the measurements without improving or worsening CRLB, but the added measurements may improve parametric images by reducing estimation bias. Next, using CRLB we evaluate the multiple-image radiography, diffraction enhanced imaging and scatter diffraction enhanced imaging estimation techniques

  3. Noise and analyzer-crystal angular position analysis for analyzer-based phase-contrast imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Majidi, Keivan; Brankov, Jovan G; Li, Jun; Muehleman, Carol

    2014-01-01

    The analyzer-based phase-contrast x-ray imaging (ABI) method is emerging as a potential alternative to conventional radiography. Like many of the modern imaging techniques, ABI is a computed imaging method (meaning that images are calculated from raw data). ABI can simultaneously generate a number of planar parametric images containing information about absorption, refraction, and scattering properties of an object. These images are estimated from raw data acquired by measuring (sampling) the angular intensity profile of the x-ray beam passed through the object at different angular positions of the analyzer crystal. The noise in the estimated ABI parametric images depends upon imaging conditions like the source intensity (flux), measurements angular positions, object properties, and the estimation method. In this paper, we use the Cramér–Rao lower bound (CRLB) to quantify the noise properties in parametric images and to investigate the effect of source intensity, different analyzer-crystal angular positions and object properties on this bound, assuming a fixed radiation dose delivered to an object. The CRLB is the minimum bound for the variance of an unbiased estimator and defines the best noise performance that one can obtain regardless of which estimation method is used to estimate ABI parametric images. The main result of this paper is that the variance (hence the noise) in parametric images is directly proportional to the source intensity and only a limited number of analyzer-crystal angular measurements (eleven for uniform and three for optimal non-uniform) are required to get the best parametric images. The following angular measurements only spread the total dose to the measurements without improving or worsening CRLB, but the added measurements may improve parametric images by reducing estimation bias. Next, using CRLB we evaluate the multiple-image radiography, diffraction enhanced imaging and scatter diffraction enhanced imaging estimation techniques

  4. A Multi-instrument and Multi-wavelength High Angular Resolution Study of MWC 614: Quantum Heated Particles Inside the Disk Cavity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kluska, Jacques; Kraus, Stefan; Davies, Claire L.; Harries, Tim; Willson, Matthew; Monnier, John D.; Aarnio, Alicia; Baron, Fabien; Millan-Gabet, Rafael; Ten Brummelaar, Theo; Che, Xiao; Hinkley, Sasha; Preibisch, Thomas; Sturmann, Judit; Sturmann, Laszlo; Touhami, Yamina

    2018-03-01

    High angular resolution observations of young stellar objects are required to study the inner astronomical units of protoplanetary disks in which the majority of planets form. As they evolve, gaps open up in the inner disk regions and the disks are fully dispersed within ∼10 Myr. MWC 614 is a pretransitional object with a ∼10 au radius gap. We present a set of high angular resolution observations of this object including SPHERE/ZIMPOL polarimetric and coronagraphic images in the visible, Keck/NIRC2 near-infrared (NIR) aperture masking observations, and Very Large Telescope Interferometer (AMBER, MIDI, and PIONIER) and Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CLASSIC and CLIMB) long-baseline interferometry at infrared wavelengths. We find that all the observations are compatible with an inclined disk (i ∼ 55° at a position angle of ∼20°–30°). The mid-infrared data set confirms that the disk inner rim is at 12.3 ± 0.4 au from the central star. We determined an upper mass limit of 0.34 M ⊙ for a companion inside the cavity. Within the cavity, the NIR emission, usually associated with the dust sublimation region, is unusually extended (∼10 au, 30 times larger than the theoretical sublimation radius) and indicates a high dust temperature (T ∼ 1800 K). As a possible result of companion-induced dust segregation, quantum heated dust grains could explain the extended NIR emission with this high temperature. Our observations confirm the peculiar state of this object where the inner disk has already been accreted onto the star, exposing small particles inside the cavity to direct stellar radiation. Based on observations made with the Keck observatory (NASA program ID N104N2) and with ESO telescopes at the Paranal Observatory (ESO program IDs 073.C-0720, 077.C-0226, 077.C-0521, 083.C-0984, 087.C-0498(A), 190.C-0963, 095.C-0883) and with the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy observatory.

  5. Segmentation of High Angular Resolution Diffusion MRI using Sparse Riemannian Manifold Clustering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Margaret J.; Thompson, Paul M.; Vidal, René

    2015-01-01

    We address the problem of segmenting high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data into multiple regions (or fiber tracts) with distinct diffusion properties. We use the orientation distribution function (ODF) to represent HARDI data and cast the problem as a clustering problem in the space of ODFs. Our approach integrates tools from sparse representation theory and Riemannian geometry into a graph theoretic segmentation framework. By exploiting the Riemannian properties of the space of ODFs, we learn a sparse representation for each ODF and infer the segmentation by applying spectral clustering to a similarity matrix built from these representations. In cases where regions with similar (resp. distinct) diffusion properties belong to different (resp. same) fiber tracts, we obtain the segmentation by incorporating spatial and user-specified pairwise relationships into the formulation. Experiments on synthetic data evaluate the sensitivity of our method to image noise and the presence of complex fiber configurations, and show its superior performance compared to alternative segmentation methods. Experiments on phantom and real data demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method in segmenting simulated fibers, as well as white matter fiber tracts of clinical importance in the human brain. PMID:24108748

  6. Angular resolution in underground detectors and a status report of the Soudan II nucleon decay detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ambats, I.; Ayres, D.; Barrett, W.

    1987-01-01

    This paper is a status report of the Soudan II honeycomb drift chamber project. It reports on the physics goals, present progress and future schedule of our experiment. It also includes a discussion of the angular resolution of cosmic ray muons which can be achieved in underground detectors, and in particular how to calibrate the resolution using the moon's shadow in cosmic rays. This last point has relevance in trying to understand the angular distributions in the reported observations of underground muons from Cygnus X-3. 12 refs., 9 figs

  7. HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF THE ATLBS REGIONS: THE RADIO SOURCE COUNTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thorat, K.; Subrahmanyan, R.; Saripalli, L.; Ekers, R. D., E-mail: kshitij@rri.res.in [Raman Research Institute, C. V. Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore 560080 (India)

    2013-01-01

    The Australia Telescope Low-brightness Survey (ATLBS) regions have been mosaic imaged at a radio frequency of 1.4 GHz with 6'' angular resolution and 72 {mu}Jy beam{sup -1} rms noise. The images (centered at R.A. 00{sup h}35{sup m}00{sup s}, decl. -67 Degree-Sign 00'00'' and R.A. 00{sup h}59{sup m}17{sup s}, decl. -67 Degree-Sign 00'00'', J2000 epoch) cover 8.42 deg{sup 2} sky area and have no artifacts or imaging errors above the image thermal noise. Multi-resolution radio and optical r-band images (made using the 4 m CTIO Blanco telescope) were used to recognize multi-component sources and prepare a source list; the detection threshold was 0.38 mJy in a low-resolution radio image made with beam FWHM of 50''. Radio source counts in the flux density range 0.4-8.7 mJy are estimated, with corrections applied for noise bias, effective area correction, and resolution bias. The resolution bias is mitigated using low-resolution radio images, while effects of source confusion are removed by using high-resolution images for identifying blended sources. Below 1 mJy the ATLBS counts are systematically lower than the previous estimates. Showing no evidence for an upturn down to 0.4 mJy, they do not require any changes in the radio source population down to the limit of the survey. The work suggests that automated image analysis for counts may be dependent on the ability of the imaging to reproduce connecting emission with low surface brightness and on the ability of the algorithm to recognize sources, which may require that source finding algorithms effectively work with multi-resolution and multi-wavelength data. The work underscores the importance of using source lists-as opposed to component lists-and correcting for the noise bias in order to precisely estimate counts close to the image noise and determine the upturn at sub-mJy flux density.

  8. In vivo High Angular Resolution Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of Mouse Brain at 16.4 Tesla

    OpenAIRE

    Alomair, Othman I.; Brereton, Ian M.; Smith, Maree T.; Galloway, Graham J.; Kurniawan, Nyoman D.

    2015-01-01

    Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the rodent brain at ultra-high magnetic fields (> 9.4 Tesla) offers a higher signal-to-noise ratio that can be exploited to reduce image acquisition time or provide higher spatial resolution. However, significant challenges are presented due to a combination of longer T 1 and shorter T 2/T2* relaxation times and increased sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility resulting in severe local-field inhomogeneity artefacts from air pockets and bone/brain interfaces...

  9. Details of 1π sr wide acceptance angle electrostatic lens for electron energy and two-dimensional angular distribution analysis combined with real space imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tóth, László; Matsuda, Hiroyuki; Matsui, Fumihiko; Goto, Kentaro; Daimon, Hiroshi

    2012-01-01

    We propose a new 1π sr Wide Acceptance Angle Electrostatic Lens (WAAEL), which works as a photoemission electron microscope (PEEM), a highly sensitive display-type electron energy and two-dimensional angular distribution analyzer. It can display two-dimensional angular distributions of charged particles within the acceptance angle of ±60° that is much larger than the largest acceptance angle range so far and comparable to the display-type spherical mirror analyzer developed by Daimon et al. . It has good focusing capabilities with 5-times magnification and 27(4) μm lateral-resolution. The relative energy resolution is typically from 2 to 5×10 -3 depending on the diameter of energy aperture and the emission area on the sample. Although, the lateral resolution of the presented lens is far from those are available nowadays, but this is the first working model that can form images using charged particles collected from 1π sr wide acceptance angle. The realization of such lens system is one of the first possible steps towards reaching the field of imaging type atomic resolution electron microscopy Feynman et al. Here some preliminary results are shown.

  10. Development of a compact scintillator-based high-resolution Compton camera for molecular imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kishimoto, A., E-mail: daphne3h-aya@ruri.waseda.jp [Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo (Japan); Kataoka, J.; Koide, A.; Sueoka, K.; Iwamoto, Y.; Taya, T. [Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo (Japan); Ohsuka, S. [Central Research Laboratory, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., 5000 Hirakuchi, Hamakita-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka (Japan)

    2017-02-11

    The Compton camera, which shows gamma-ray distribution utilizing the kinematics of Compton scattering, is a promising detector capable of imaging across a wide range of energy. In this study, we aim to construct a small-animal molecular imaging system in a wide energy range by using the Compton camera. We developed a compact medical Compton camera based on a Ce-doped Gd{sub 3}Al{sub 2}Ga{sub 3}O{sub 12} (Ce:GAGG) scintillator and multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC). A basic performance confirmed that for 662 keV, the typical energy resolution was 7.4 % (FWHM) and the angular resolution was 4.5° (FWHM). We then used the medical Compton camera to conduct imaging experiments based on a 3-D imaging reconstruction algorithm using the multi-angle data acquisition method. The result confirmed that for a {sup 137}Cs point source at a distance of 4 cm, the image had a spatial resolution of 3.1 mm (FWHM). Furthermore, we succeeded in producing 3-D multi-color image of different simultaneous energy sources ({sup 22}Na [511 keV], {sup 137}Cs [662 keV], and {sup 54}Mn [834 keV]).

  11. High mass star formation to the extremes: NGC 3603 at high angular resolution in the near-infrared

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nuernberger, Dieter E A

    2008-01-01

    High angular resolution observations play a decisive role for our understanding of high mass star formation processes, both within our Galaxy and in extragalactic starburst regions. We take the Galactic starburst template NGC 3603 as paradigm and report here on high angular resolution JHK s L' observations of the enigmatic, highly reddened sources IRS 9A-C in the NGC 3603 region, which were performed with NACO at ESO's Very Large Telescope Yepun. These broad-band imaging data strongly support the classification of IRS 9A-C as high mass protostellar candidates. We also confirm unambiguously the membership of IRS 9A-C with the NGC 3603 region as gas and dust is seen to be stripped off from their circumstellar envelopes by strong stellar winds, originating from the high mass main sequence stars of the nearby OB cluster. The orientation of these gas and dust streamers coincides with that of a very faint, only marginally detected mini-pillar protruding from the adjacent molecular clump NGC 3603 MM 2. The L' data show extended envelopes around IRS 9A-C and reveal sub-structures therein which are indicative for non-spherically distributed material. It seems obvious that protostellar mass outflows are at work to clear cavities along the polar axes of the central protostar, and / or that circumstellar disks are taking shape.

  12. Angular relational signature-based chest radiograph image view classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santosh, K C; Wendling, Laurent

    2018-01-22

    In a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system, especially for chest radiograph or chest X-ray (CXR) screening, CXR image view information is required. Automatically separating CXR image view, frontal and lateral can ease subsequent CXR screening process, since the techniques may not equally work for both views. We present a novel technique to classify frontal and lateral CXR images, where we introduce angular relational signature through force histogram to extract features and apply three different state-of-the-art classifiers: multi-layer perceptron, random forest, and support vector machine to make a decision. We validated our fully automatic technique on a set of 8100 images hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and achieved an accuracy close to 100%. Our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of processing time (less than or close to 2 s for the whole test data) while the accuracies can be compared, and therefore, it justifies its practicality. Graphical Abstract Interpreting chest X-ray (CXR) through the angular relational signature.

  13. Arcsecond and Sub-arcsedond Imaging with X-ray Multi-Image Interferometer and Imager for (very) small sattelites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashida, K.; Kawabata, T.; Nakajima, H.; Inoue, S.; Tsunemi, H.

    2017-10-01

    The best angular resolution of 0.5 arcsec is realized with the X-ray mirror onborad the Chandra satellite. Nevertheless, further better or comparable resolution is anticipated to be difficult in near future. In fact, the goal of ATHENA telescope is 5 arcsec in the angular resolution. We propose a new type of X-ray interferometer consisting simply of an X-ray absorption grating and an X-ray spectral imaging detector, such as X-ray CCDs or new generation CMOS detectors, by stacking the multi images created with the Talbot interferenece (Hayashida et al. 2016). This system, now we call Multi Image X-ray Interferometer Module (MIXIM) enables arcseconds resolution with very small satellites of 50cm size, and sub-arcseconds resolution with small sattellites. We have performed ground experiments, in which a micro-focus X-ray source, grating with pitch of 4.8μm, and 30 μm pixel detector placed about 1m from the source. We obtained the self-image (interferometirc fringe) of the grating for wide band pass around 10keV. This result corresponds to about 2 arcsec resolution for parrallel beam incidence. The MIXIM is usefull for high angular resolution imaging of relatively bright sources. Search for super massive black holes and resolving AGN torus would be the targets of this system.

  14. Computerized tomography using high resolution X-ray imaging system with a microfocus source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaprazny, Z.; Korytar, D.; Konopka, P.; Ac, V.; Bielecki, J.

    2011-01-01

    In recent years there is an effort to image an internal structure of an object by using not only conventional 2D X-ray radiography but also using high resolution 3D tomography which is based on reconstruction of multiple 2D projections at various angular positions of the object. We have previously reported [1] the development and basic parameters of a high resolution x-ray imaging system with a microfocus source. We report the recent progress using this high resolution X-ray laboratory system in this work. These first findings show that our system is particularly suitable for light weight and nonmetallic objects such as biological objects, plastics, wood, paper, etc. where phase contrast helps to increase the visibility of the finest structures of the object. Phase-contrast X-ray Computerized Tomography is of our special interest because it is an emerging imaging technique that can be implemented at third generation synchrotron radiation sources and also in laboratory conditions using a microfocus X-ray tube or beam conditioning optics. (authors)

  15. Accurate Mass Measurements for Planetary Microlensing Events Using High Angular Resolution Observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Philippe Beaulieu

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The microlensing technique is a unique method to hunt for cold planets over a range of mass and separation, orbiting all varieties of host stars in the disk of our galaxy. It provides precise mass-ratio and projected separations in units of the Einstein ring radius. In order to obtain the physical parameters (mass, distance, orbital separation of the system, it is necessary to combine the result of light curve modeling with lens mass-distance relations and/or perform a Bayesian analysis with a galactic model. A first mass-distance relation could be obtained from a constraint on the Einstein ring radius if the crossing time of the source over the caustic is measured. It could then be supplemented by secondary constraints such as parallax measurements, ideally by using coinciding ground and space-born observations. These are still subject to degeneracies, like the orbital motion of the lens. A third mass-distance relation can be obtained thanks to constraints on the lens luminosity using high angular resolution observations with 8 m class telescopes or the Hubble Space Telescope. The latter route, although quite inexpensive in telescope time is very effective. If we have to rely heavily on Bayesian analysis and limited constraints on mass-distance relations, the physical parameters are determined to 30–40% typically. In a handful of cases, ground-space parallax is a powerful route to get stronger constraint on masses. High angular resolution observations will be able to constrain the luminosity of the lenses in the majority of the cases, and in favorable circumstances it is possible to derive physical parameters to 10% or better. Moreover, these constraints will be obtained in most of the planets to be discovered by the Euclid and WFIRST satellites. We describe here the state-of-the-art approaches to measure lens masses and distances with an emphasis on high angular resolution observations. We will discuss the challenges, recent results and

  16. The relationship between Class I and Class II methanol masers at high angular resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, T. P.; Ellingsen, S. P.; Voronkov, M. A.; Cimò, G.

    2018-06-01

    We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to make the first high-resolution observations of a large sample of class I methanol masers in the 95-GHz (80-71A+) transition. The target sources consist of a statistically complete sample of 6.7-GHz class II methanol masers with an associated 95-GHz class I methanol maser, enabling a detailed study of the relationship between the two methanol maser classes at arcsecond angular resolution. These sources have been previously observed at high resolution in the 36- and 44-GHz transitions, allowing comparison between all three class I maser transitions. In total, 172 95-GHz maser components were detected across the 32 target sources. We find that at high resolution, when considering matched maser components, a 3:1 flux density ratio is observed between the 95- and 44-GHz components, consistent with a number of previous lower angular resolution studies. The 95-GHz maser components appear to be preferentially located closer to the driving sources and this may indicate that this transition is more strongly inverted nearby to background continuum sources. We do not observe an elevated association rate between 95-GHz maser emission and more evolved sources, as indicated by the presence of 12.2-GHz class II masers. We find that in the majority of cases where both class I and class II methanol emission is observed, some component of the class I emission is associated with a likely outflow candidate.

  17. Satellite Angular Velocity Estimation Based on Star Images and Optical Flow Techniques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giancarmine Fasano

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available An optical flow-based technique is proposed to estimate spacecraft angular velocity based on sequences of star-field images. It does not require star identification and can be thus used to also deliver angular rate information when attitude determination is not possible, as during platform de tumbling or slewing. Region-based optical flow calculation is carried out on successive star images preprocessed to remove background. Sensor calibration parameters, Poisson equation, and a least-squares method are then used to estimate the angular velocity vector components in the sensor rotating frame. A theoretical error budget is developed to estimate the expected angular rate accuracy as a function of camera parameters and star distribution in the field of view. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is tested by using star field scenes generated by a hardware-in-the-loop testing facility and acquired by a commercial-off-the shelf camera sensor. Simulated cases comprise rotations at different rates. Experimental results are presented which are consistent with theoretical estimates. In particular, very accurate angular velocity estimates are generated at lower slew rates, while in all cases the achievable accuracy in the estimation of the angular velocity component along boresight is about one order of magnitude worse than the other two components.

  18. Angular integration and inter-projection correlation effects in CT reconstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crawford, C.R.; Pele, N.J.

    1987-01-01

    CT reconstruction algorithms require snap-shot projections of an object. In order to minimize scan times, CT scanners rotate continuously which, in turn, prevents the acquisition of snap-shot projections. Acquired projections are integrals over angular position and may be correlated inter-projection. This paper shows that angular integration and inter-projection correlation introduce a radially dependent degradation of the spatial resolution and cause the image noise to vary non-linearly with radial position

  19. Angularly-selective transmission imaging in a scanning electron microscope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holm, Jason; Keller, Robert R

    2016-08-01

    This work presents recent advances in transmission scanning electron microscopy (t-SEM) imaging control capabilities. A modular aperture system and a cantilever-style sample holder that enable comprehensive angular selectivity of forward-scattered electrons are described. When combined with a commercially available solid-state transmission detector having only basic bright-field and dark-field imaging capabilities, the advances described here enable numerous transmission imaging modes. Several examples are provided that demonstrate how contrast arising from diffraction to mass-thickness can be obtained. Unanticipated image contrast at some imaging conditions is also observed and addressed. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Improving the angular resolution of existing air shower arrays by adding a thin layer of lead

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poirier, J.; Mikocki, S.

    1987-01-01

    Calculations show that placing a thin sheet of lead above conventional extensive air shower counters yields an additional signal which is earlier in time. This will improve the array's angular resolution. (orig.)

  1. Isotope specific resolution recovery image reconstruction in high resolution PET imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kotasidis, Fotis A. [Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospital, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland and Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre, MAHSC, University of Manchester, M20 3LJ, Manchester (United Kingdom); Angelis, Georgios I. [Faculty of Health Sciences, Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Sydney (Australia); Anton-Rodriguez, Jose; Matthews, Julian C. [Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre, MAHSC, University of Manchester, Manchester M20 3LJ (United Kingdom); Reader, Andrew J. [Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal QC H3A 2B4, Canada and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King' s College London, St. Thomas’ Hospital, London SE1 7EH (United Kingdom); Zaidi, Habib [Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Geneva University Hospital, CH-1211 Geneva (Switzerland); Geneva Neuroscience Centre, Geneva University, CH-1205 Geneva (Switzerland); Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, PO Box 30 001, Groningen 9700 RB (Netherlands)

    2014-05-15

    Purpose: Measuring and incorporating a scanner-specific point spread function (PSF) within image reconstruction has been shown to improve spatial resolution in PET. However, due to the short half-life of clinically used isotopes, other long-lived isotopes not used in clinical practice are used to perform the PSF measurements. As such, non-optimal PSF models that do not correspond to those needed for the data to be reconstructed are used within resolution modeling (RM) image reconstruction, usually underestimating the true PSF owing to the difference in positron range. In high resolution brain and preclinical imaging, this effect is of particular importance since the PSFs become more positron range limited and isotope-specific PSFs can help maximize the performance benefit from using resolution recovery image reconstruction algorithms. Methods: In this work, the authors used a printing technique to simultaneously measure multiple point sources on the High Resolution Research Tomograph (HRRT), and the authors demonstrated the feasibility of deriving isotope-dependent system matrices from fluorine-18 and carbon-11 point sources. Furthermore, the authors evaluated the impact of incorporating them within RM image reconstruction, using carbon-11 phantom and clinical datasets on the HRRT. Results: The results obtained using these two isotopes illustrate that even small differences in positron range can result in different PSF maps, leading to further improvements in contrast recovery when used in image reconstruction. The difference is more pronounced in the centre of the field-of-view where the full width at half maximum (FWHM) from the positron range has a larger contribution to the overall FWHM compared to the edge where the parallax error dominates the overall FWHM. Conclusions: Based on the proposed methodology, measured isotope-specific and spatially variant PSFs can be reliably derived and used for improved spatial resolution and variance performance in resolution

  2. Isotope specific resolution recovery image reconstruction in high resolution PET imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kotasidis, Fotis A.; Angelis, Georgios I.; Anton-Rodriguez, Jose; Matthews, Julian C.; Reader, Andrew J.; Zaidi, Habib

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Measuring and incorporating a scanner-specific point spread function (PSF) within image reconstruction has been shown to improve spatial resolution in PET. However, due to the short half-life of clinically used isotopes, other long-lived isotopes not used in clinical practice are used to perform the PSF measurements. As such, non-optimal PSF models that do not correspond to those needed for the data to be reconstructed are used within resolution modeling (RM) image reconstruction, usually underestimating the true PSF owing to the difference in positron range. In high resolution brain and preclinical imaging, this effect is of particular importance since the PSFs become more positron range limited and isotope-specific PSFs can help maximize the performance benefit from using resolution recovery image reconstruction algorithms. Methods: In this work, the authors used a printing technique to simultaneously measure multiple point sources on the High Resolution Research Tomograph (HRRT), and the authors demonstrated the feasibility of deriving isotope-dependent system matrices from fluorine-18 and carbon-11 point sources. Furthermore, the authors evaluated the impact of incorporating them within RM image reconstruction, using carbon-11 phantom and clinical datasets on the HRRT. Results: The results obtained using these two isotopes illustrate that even small differences in positron range can result in different PSF maps, leading to further improvements in contrast recovery when used in image reconstruction. The difference is more pronounced in the centre of the field-of-view where the full width at half maximum (FWHM) from the positron range has a larger contribution to the overall FWHM compared to the edge where the parallax error dominates the overall FWHM. Conclusions: Based on the proposed methodology, measured isotope-specific and spatially variant PSFs can be reliably derived and used for improved spatial resolution and variance performance in resolution

  3. Isotope specific resolution recovery image reconstruction in high resolution PET imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotasidis, Fotis A; Angelis, Georgios I; Anton-Rodriguez, Jose; Matthews, Julian C; Reader, Andrew J; Zaidi, Habib

    2014-05-01

    Measuring and incorporating a scanner-specific point spread function (PSF) within image reconstruction has been shown to improve spatial resolution in PET. However, due to the short half-life of clinically used isotopes, other long-lived isotopes not used in clinical practice are used to perform the PSF measurements. As such, non-optimal PSF models that do not correspond to those needed for the data to be reconstructed are used within resolution modeling (RM) image reconstruction, usually underestimating the true PSF owing to the difference in positron range. In high resolution brain and preclinical imaging, this effect is of particular importance since the PSFs become more positron range limited and isotope-specific PSFs can help maximize the performance benefit from using resolution recovery image reconstruction algorithms. In this work, the authors used a printing technique to simultaneously measure multiple point sources on the High Resolution Research Tomograph (HRRT), and the authors demonstrated the feasibility of deriving isotope-dependent system matrices from fluorine-18 and carbon-11 point sources. Furthermore, the authors evaluated the impact of incorporating them within RM image reconstruction, using carbon-11 phantom and clinical datasets on the HRRT. The results obtained using these two isotopes illustrate that even small differences in positron range can result in different PSF maps, leading to further improvements in contrast recovery when used in image reconstruction. The difference is more pronounced in the centre of the field-of-view where the full width at half maximum (FWHM) from the positron range has a larger contribution to the overall FWHM compared to the edge where the parallax error dominates the overall FWHM. Based on the proposed methodology, measured isotope-specific and spatially variant PSFs can be reliably derived and used for improved spatial resolution and variance performance in resolution recovery image reconstruction. The

  4. Method of separation of air showers initiated by γ-quanta and protons using Cherenkov light angular characteristics in combination and angular resolution estimate for an array of several optical telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anokhina, A.M.; Galkin, V.I.; Ivanenko, I.P.; Roganova, T.M.

    1990-01-01

    Computer simulation of optical characteristics of air showers was carried out. On the basis of multidimensional analysis of Cherenkov light angular distribution possibility is considered to distinguish γ-showers from proton showers. Also an estimate for angular resolution is given for an array of five optical telescopes situated at Mt.Aragats. 7 refs.; 10 figs.; 11 tabs

  5. Linear transforms for Fourier data on the sphere: application to high angular resolution diffusion MRI of the brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haldar, Justin P; Leahy, Richard M

    2013-05-01

    This paper presents a novel family of linear transforms that can be applied to data collected from the surface of a 2-sphere in three-dimensional Fourier space. This family of transforms generalizes the previously-proposed Funk-Radon Transform (FRT), which was originally developed for estimating the orientations of white matter fibers in the central nervous system from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data. The new family of transforms is characterized theoretically, and efficient numerical implementations of the transforms are presented for the case when the measured data is represented in a basis of spherical harmonics. After these general discussions, attention is focused on a particular new transform from this family that we name the Funk-Radon and Cosine Transform (FRACT). Based on theoretical arguments, it is expected that FRACT-based analysis should yield significantly better orientation information (e.g., improved accuracy and higher angular resolution) than FRT-based analysis, while maintaining the strong characterizability and computational efficiency of the FRT. Simulations are used to confirm these theoretical characteristics, and the practical significance of the proposed approach is illustrated with real diffusion weighted MRI brain data. These experiments demonstrate that, in addition to having strong theoretical characteristics, the proposed approach can outperform existing state-of-the-art orientation estimation methods with respect to measures such as angular resolution and robustness to noise and modeling errors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Fluid Lensing, Applications to High-Resolution 3D Subaqueous Imaging & Automated Remote Biosphere Assessment from Airborne and Space-borne Platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chirayath, V.

    2014-12-01

    Fluid Lensing is a theoretical model and algorithm I present for fluid-optical interactions in turbulent flows as well as two-fluid surface boundaries that, when coupled with an unique computer vision and image-processing pipeline, may be used to significantly enhance the angular resolution of a remote sensing optical system with applicability to high-resolution 3D imaging of subaqueous regions and through turbulent fluid flows. This novel remote sensing technology has recently been implemented on a quadcopter-based UAS for imaging shallow benthic systems to create the first dataset of a biosphere with unprecedented sub-cm-level imagery in 3D over areas as large as 15 square kilometers. Perturbed two-fluid boundaries with different refractive indices, such as the surface between the ocean and air, may be exploited for use as lensing elements for imaging targets on either side of the interface with enhanced angular resolution. I present theoretical developments behind Fluid Lensing and experimental results from its recent implementation for the Reactive Reefs project to image shallow reef ecosystems at cm scales. Preliminary results from petabyte-scale aerial survey efforts using Fluid Lensing to image at-risk coral reefs in American Samoa (August, 2013) show broad applicability to large-scale automated species identification, morphology studies and reef ecosystem characterization for shallow marine environments and terrestrial biospheres, of crucial importance to understanding climate change's impact on coastal zones, global oxygen production and carbon sequestration.

  7. The impact of clustering and angular resolution on far-infrared and millimeter continuum observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Béthermin, Matthieu; Wu, Hao-Yi; Lagache, Guilaine; Davidzon, Iary; Ponthieu, Nicolas; Cousin, Morgane; Wang, Lingyu; Doré, Olivier; Daddi, Emanuele; Lapi, Andrea

    2017-11-01

    Follow-up observations at high-angular resolution of bright submillimeter galaxies selected from deep extragalactic surveys have shown that the single-dish sources are comprised of a blend of several galaxies. Consequently, number counts derived from low- and high-angular-resolution observations are in tension. This demonstrates the importance of resolution effects at these wavelengths and the need for realistic simulations to explore them. We built a new 2 deg2 simulation of the extragalactic sky from the far-infrared to the submillimeter. It is based on an updated version of the 2SFM (two star-formation modes) galaxy evolution model. Using global galaxy properties generated by this model, we used an abundance-matching technique to populate a dark-matter lightcone and thus simulate the clustering. We produced maps from this simulation and extracted the sources, and we show that the limited angular resolution of single-dish instruments has a strong impact on (sub)millimeter continuum observations. Taking into account these resolution effects, we are reproducing a large set of observables, as number counts and their evolution with redshift and cosmic infrared background power spectra. Our simulation consistently describes the number counts from single-dish telescopes and interferometers. In particular, at 350 and 500 μm, we find that the number counts measured by Herschel between 5 and 50 mJy are biased towards high values by a factor 2, and that the redshift distributions are biased towards low redshifts. We also show that the clustering has an important impact on the Herschel pixel histogram used to derive number counts from P(D) analysis. We find that the brightest galaxy in the beam of a 500 μm Herschel source contributes on average to only 60% of the Herschel flux density, but that this number will rise to 95% for future millimeter surveys on 30 m-class telescopes (e.g., NIKA2 at IRAM). Finally, we show that the large number density of red Herschel sources

  8. Filter and slice thickness selection in SPECT image reconstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanovic, M.; Weber, D.A.; Wilson, G.A.; O'Mara, R.E.

    1985-01-01

    The choice of filter and slice thickness in SPECT image reconstruction as function of activity and linear and angular sampling were investigated in phantom and patient imaging studies. Reconstructed transverse and longitudinal spatial resolution of the system were measured using a line source in a water filled phantom. Phantom studies included measurements of the Data Spectrum phantom; clinical studies included tomographic procedures in 40 patients undergoing imaging of the temporomandibular joint. Slices of the phantom and patient images were evaluated for spatial of the phantom and patient images were evaluated for spatial resolution, noise, and image quality. Major findings include; spatial resolution and image quality improve with increasing linear sampling frequencies over the range of 4-8 mm/p in the phantom images, best spatial resolution and image quality in clinical images were observed at a linear sampling frequency of 6mm/p, Shepp and Logan filter gives the best spatial resolution for phantom studies at the lowest linear sampling frequency; smoothed Shepp and Logan filter provides best quality images without loss of resolution at higher frequencies and, spatial resolution and image quality improve with increased angular sampling frequency in the phantom at 40 c/p but appear to be independent of angular sampling frequency at 400 c/p

  9. GALACTICNUCLEUS: A high angular resolution JHKs imaging survey of the Galactic centre. I. Methodology, performance, and near-infrared extinction towards the Galactic centre

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nogueras-Lara, F.; Gallego-Calvente, A. T.; Dong, H.; Gallego-Cano, E.; Girard, J. H. V.; Hilker, M.; de Zeeuw, P. T.; Feldmeier-Krause, A.; Nishiyama, S.; Najarro, F.; Neumayer, N.; Schödel, R.

    2018-03-01

    Context. The Galactic centre (GC) is of fundamental astrophysical interest, but existing near-infrared surveys fall short covering it adequately, either in terms of angular resolution, multi-wavelength coverage, or both. Here we introduce the GALACTICNUCLEUS survey, a JHKs imaging survey of the centre of the Milky Way with a 0.2″ angular resolution. Aim. The purpose of this paper is to present the observations of Field 1 of our survey, centred approximately on SgrA* with an approximate size of 7.95' × 3.43'. We describe the observational set-up and data reduction pipeline and discuss the quality of the data. Finally, we present the analysis of the data. Methods: The data were acquired with the near-infrared camera High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) at the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Short readout times in combination with the speckle holography algorithm allowed us to produce final images with a stable, Gaussian PSF (point spread function) of 0.2″ FWHM (full width at half maximum). Astrometric calibration is achieved via the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey and photometric calibration is based on the SIRIUS/Infrared Survey Facility telescope (IRSF) survey. The quality of the data is assessed by comparison between observations of the same field with different detectors of HAWK-I and at different times. Results: We reach 5σ detection limits of approximately J = 22, H = 21, and Ks = 20. The photometric uncertainties are less than 0.05 at J ≲ 20, H ≲ 17, and Ks ≲ 16. We can distinguish five stellar populations in the colour-magnitude diagrams; three of them appear to belong to foreground spiral arms, and the other two correspond to high- and low-extinction star groups at the GC. We use our data to analyse the near-infrared extinction curve and find some evidence for a possible difference between the extinction index between J - H and H - Ks. However, we conclude that it can be described very well by a power law with an index of

  10. HIGH RESOLUTION 36 GHz IMAGING OF THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT OF SN 1987A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potter, T. M.; Staveley-Smith, L.; Zanardo, G.; Ng, C.-Y.; Gaensler, B. M.; Ball, Lewis; Kesteven, M. J.; Manchester, R. N.; Tzioumis, A. K.

    2009-01-01

    The aftermath of supernova (SN) 1987A continues to provide spectacular insights into the interaction between an SN blastwave and its circumstellar environment. We here present 36 GHz observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array of the radio remnant of SN 1987A. These new images, taken in 2008 April and 2008 October, substantially extend the frequency range of an ongoing monitoring and imaging program conducted between 1.4 and 20 GHz. Our 36.2 GHz images have a diffraction-limited angular resolution of 0.''3-0.''4, which covers the gap between high resolution, low dynamic range VLBI images of the remnant and low resolution, high dynamic range images at frequencies between 1 and 20 GHz. The radio morphology of the remnant at 36 GHz is an elliptical ring with enhanced emission on the eastern and western sides, similar to that seen previously at lower frequencies. Model fits to the data in the Fourier domain show that the emitting region is consistent with a thick inclined torus of mean radius 0.''85, and a 2008 October flux density of 27 ± 6 mJy at 36.2 GHz. The spectral index for the remnant at this epoch, determined between 1.4 GHz and 36.2 GHz, is α = -0.83. There is tentative evidence for an unresolved central source with flatter spectral index.

  11. Geometrically necessary dislocation densities in olivine obtained using high-angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wallis, David, E-mail: davidwa@earth.ox.ac.uk [Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3AN (United Kingdom); Hansen, Lars N. [Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3AN (United Kingdom); Ben Britton, T. [Department of Materials, Imperial College London, Royal School of Mines, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Wilkinson, Angus J. [Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3PH (United Kingdom)

    2016-09-15

    Dislocations in geological minerals are fundamental to the creep processes that control large-scale geodynamic phenomena. However, techniques to quantify their densities, distributions, and types over critical subgrain to polycrystal length scales are limited. The recent advent of high-angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD), based on diffraction pattern cross-correlation, offers a powerful new approach that has been utilised to analyse dislocation densities in the materials sciences. In particular, HR-EBSD yields significantly better angular resolution (<0.01°) than conventional EBSD (~0.5°), allowing very low dislocation densities to be analysed. We develop the application of HR-EBSD to olivine, the dominant mineral in Earth's upper mantle by testing (1) different inversion methods for estimating geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) densities, (2) the sensitivity of the method under a range of data acquisition settings, and (3) the ability of the technique to resolve a variety of olivine dislocation structures. The relatively low crystal symmetry (orthorhombic) and few slip systems in olivine result in well constrained GND density estimates. The GND density noise floor is inversely proportional to map step size, such that datasets can be optimised for analysing either short wavelength, high density structures (e.g. subgrain boundaries) or long wavelength, low amplitude orientation gradients. Comparison to conventional images of decorated dislocations demonstrates that HR-EBSD can characterise the dislocation distribution and reveal additional structure not captured by the decoration technique. HR-EBSD therefore provides a highly effective method for analysing dislocations in olivine and determining their role in accommodating macroscopic deformation. - Highlights: • Lattice orientation gradients in olivine were measured using HR-EBSD. • The limited number of olivine slip systems enable simple least squares inversion for GND

  12. IMPLICATIONS OF A HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION IMAGE OF THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT IN RXJ1347-1145

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mason, B. S.; Cotton, W. D.; Dicker, S. R.; Korngut, P. M.; Devlin, M. J.; Aguirre, J. E.; Koch, P. M.; Molnar, S. M.; Sievers, J.; Benford, D.; Staguhn, J. G.; Moseley, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Ade, P.

    2010-01-01

    The most X-ray luminous cluster known, RXJ1347-1145 (z = 0.45), has been the object of extensive study across the electromagnetic spectrum. We have imaged the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) at 90 GHz (λ = 3.3 mm) in RXJ1347-1145 at 10'' resolution with the 64 pixel MUSTANG bolometer array on the Green Bank Telescope, confirming a previously reported strong, localized enhancement of the SZE 20'' to the southeast of the center of X-ray emission. This enhancement of the SZE has been interpreted as shock-heated (>20 keV) gas caused by an ongoing major (low mass ratio) merger event. Our data support this interpretation. We also detect a pronounced asymmetry in the projected cluster pressure profile, with the pressure just east of the cluster core ∼1.6x higher than just to the west. This is the highest resolution image of the SZE made to date.

  13. Evaluation of Medium Spatial Resolution BRDF-Adjustment Techniques Using Multi-Angular SPOT4 (Take5) Acquisitions

    OpenAIRE

    Claverie, Martin; Vermote, Eric; Franch, Belen; He, Tao; Hagolle, Olivier; Kadiri, Mohamed; Masek, Jeff

    2015-01-01

    High-resolution sensor Surface Reflectance (SR) data are affected by surface anisotropy but are difficult to adjust because of the low temporal frequency of the acquisitions and the low angular sampling. This paper evaluates five high spatial resolution Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) adjustment techniques. The evaluation is based on the noise level of the SR Time Series (TS) corrected to a normalized geometry (nadir view, 45° sun zenith angle) extracted from the multi-...

  14. High resolution LBT imaging of Io and Jupiter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conrad, A.; de Kleer, K.; Leisenring, J.; La Camera, A.; Arcidiacono, C.; Bertero, M.; Boccacci, P.; Defrère, D.; de Pater, I.; Hinz, P.; Hoffman, K.-H.; Kürster, M.; Rathbun, J.; Schertl, D.; Skemer, A.; Skrutskie, M.; Spencer, J.; Veillet, C.; Weigelt, G.; Woodward, C.

    2015-10-01

    We report here results from observing Io at high angular resolution, ˜32 mas at 4.8 μm, with LBT at two favorable oppositions as described in our report given at the 2011 EPSC [1]. Analysis of datasets acquired during the last two oppositions has yielded spatially resolved M-band emission at Loki Patera [2], L-band fringes at an eruption site, an occultation of Loki and Pele by Europa, and sufficient sub-earth longitude (SEL) and parallactic angle coverage to produce a full disk map.We summarize completed results for the first of these, and give brief progress reports for the latter three. Finally, we provide plans for imaging the full disk of Jupiter using the MCAO system which is in its commissioning phase at LBT.

  15. High-resolution multi-band imaging for validation and characterization of small Kepler planets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Everett, Mark E.; Silva, David R.; Barclay, Thomas; Howell, Steve B.; Ciardi, David R.; Horch, Elliott P.; Crepp, Justin R.

    2015-01-01

    High-resolution ground-based optical speckle and near-infrared adaptive optics images are taken to search for stars in close angular proximity to host stars of candidate planets identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Neighboring stars are a potential source of false positive signals. These stars also blend into Kepler light curves, affecting estimated planet properties, and are important for an understanding of planets in multiple star systems. Deep images with high angular resolution help to validate candidate planets by excluding potential background eclipsing binaries as the source of the transit signals. A study of 18 Kepler Object of Interest stars hosting a total of 28 candidate and validated planets is presented. Validation levels are determined for 18 planets against the likelihood of a false positive from a background eclipsing binary. Most of these are validated at the 99% level or higher, including five newly validated planets in two systems: Kepler-430 and Kepler-431. The stellar properties of the candidate host stars are determined by supplementing existing literature values with new spectroscopic characterizations. Close neighbors of seven of these stars are examined using multi-wavelength photometry to determine their nature and influence on the candidate planet properties. Most of the close neighbors appear to be gravitationally bound secondaries, while a few are best explained as closely co-aligned field stars. Revised planet properties are derived for each candidate and validated planet, including cases where the close neighbors are the potential host stars.

  16. Isotope specific resolution recovery image reconstruction in high resolution PET imaging

    OpenAIRE

    Kotasidis Fotis A.; Kotasidis Fotis A.; Angelis Georgios I.; Anton-Rodriguez Jose; Matthews Julian C.; Reader Andrew J.; Reader Andrew J.; Zaidi Habib; Zaidi Habib; Zaidi Habib

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Measuring and incorporating a scanner specific point spread function (PSF) within image reconstruction has been shown to improve spatial resolution in PET. However due to the short half life of clinically used isotopes other long lived isotopes not used in clinical practice are used to perform the PSF measurements. As such non optimal PSF models that do not correspond to those needed for the data to be reconstructed are used within resolution modeling (RM) image reconstruction usuall...

  17. Optimal image resolution for digital storage of radiotherapy-planning images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baba, Yuji; Furusawa, Mitsuhiro; Murakami, Ryuji; Baba, Takashi; Yokoyama, Toshimi; Nishimura, Ryuichi; Takahashi, Mutsumasa

    1998-01-01

    Purpose: To evaluate the quality of digitized radiation-planning images at different resolution and to determine the optimal resolution for digital storage. Methods and Materials: Twenty-five planning films were scanned and digitized using a film scanner at a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi) with 8-bit depth. The resolution of scanned images was reduced to 48, 36, 24, and 18 dpi using computer software. Image qualities of these five images (72, 48, 36, 24, and 18 dpi) were evaluated and given scores (4 = excellent; 3 = good; 2 = fair; and 1 = poor) by three radiation oncologists. An image data compression algorithm by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) (not reversible and some information will be lost) was also evaluated. Results: The scores of digitized images with 72, 48, 36, 24, and 17 dpi resolution were 3.8 ± 0.3, 3.5 ± 0.3, 3.3 ± 0.5, 2.7 ± 0.5, and 1.6 ± 0.3, respectively. The quality of 36-dpi images were definitely worse compared to 72-dpi images, but were good enough as planning films. Digitized planning images with 72- and 36-dpi resolution requires about 800 and 200 KBytes, respectively. The JPEG compression algorithm produces little degradation in 36-dpi images at compression ratios of 5:1. Conclusion: The quality of digitized images with 36-dpi resolution was good enough as radiation-planning images and required 200 KBytes/image

  18. Lucky Imaging in Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandner, Wolfgang; Hormuth, Felix

    Lucky Imaging improves the angular resolution of astronomical observations hampered by atmospheric turbulence ("seeing"). Unlike adaptive optics, Lucky Imaging is a passive observing technique with individual integration times comparable to the atmospheric coherence time. Thanks to the advent of essentially noise free "Electron multiplying CCD" detectors, Lucky Imaging saw a renewed interest in the past decade. It is now routinely used at a number of 2-5-m class telescopes, such as ESO's NTT. We review the history of Lucky Imaging, present the technical implementation, describe the data analysis philosophy, and show some recent results obtained with this technique. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of Lucky Imaging compared to other passive and active high angular resolution observing techniques.

  19. Computer simulation on spatial resolution of X-ray bright-field imaging by dynamical diffraction theory for a Laue-case crystal analyzer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Yoshifumi; Chikaura, Yoshinori; Ando, Masami

    2011-01-01

    Recently, dark-field imaging (DFI) and bright-field imaging (BFI) have been proposed and applied to visualize X-ray refraction effects yielded in biomedical objects. In order to clarify the spatial resolution due to a crystal analyzer in Laue geometry, a program based on the Takagi-Taupin equation was modified to be used for carrying out simulations to evaluate the spatial resolution of images coming into a Laue angular analyzer (LAA). The calculation was done with a perfect plane wave for diffraction wave-fields, which corresponded to BFI, under the conditions of 35 keV and a diffraction index 440 for a 2100 μm thick LAA. As a result, the spatial resolution along the g-vector direction showed approximately 37.5 μm. 126 μm-thick LAA showed a spatial resolution better than 3.1 μm under the conditions of 13.7 keV and a diffraction index 220.

  20. Characterization of the angular memory effect of scattered light in biological tissues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schott, Sam; Bertolotti, Jacopo; Léger, Jean-Francois; Bourdieu, Laurent; Gigan, Sylvain

    2015-05-18

    High resolution optical microscopy is essential in neuroscience but suffers from scattering in biological tissues and therefore grants access to superficial brain layers only. Recently developed techniques use scattered photons for imaging by exploiting angular correlations in transmitted light and could potentially increase imaging depths. But those correlations ('angular memory effect') are of a very short range and should theoretically be only present behind and not inside scattering media. From measurements on neural tissues and complementary simulations, we find that strong forward scattering in biological tissues can enhance the memory effect range and thus the possible field-of-view by more than an order of magnitude compared to isotropic scattering for ∼1 mm thick tissue layers.

  1. Effects of angular sampling in tomographic myocardial perfusion imaging with Tl-201

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rebelo, M.S.; Robilotta, C.C.

    1989-01-01

    The present work presents results of computational and experimental simulations, in order to show the influence of angular sampling in the quality of SPECT images reconstructed with the Convolution Backprojection algorithm. Geometric deformations and contrast artifacts had been produced in the incomplete sampled images. The experimental images were sampled at 32 projections over 180 0 and 64 projections over 360 0 . Attenuation correction was performed for images sampled over 360 0 . The coomputationally simulated images were sampled at both 64 and 128 projections over 360 0 . (author) [pt

  2. Super-resolution for everybody: An image processing workflow to obtain high-resolution images with a standard confocal microscope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, France; Cladière, Damien; Guillaume, Cyndélia; Wassmann, Katja; Bolte, Susanne

    2017-02-15

    In the presented work we aimed at improving confocal imaging to obtain highest possible resolution in thick biological samples, such as the mouse oocyte. We therefore developed an image processing workflow that allows improving the lateral and axial resolution of a standard confocal microscope. Our workflow comprises refractive index matching, the optimization of microscope hardware parameters and image restoration by deconvolution. We compare two different deconvolution algorithms, evaluate the necessity of denoising and establish the optimal image restoration procedure. We validate our workflow by imaging sub resolution fluorescent beads and measuring the maximum lateral and axial resolution of the confocal system. Subsequently, we apply the parameters to the imaging and data restoration of fluorescently labelled meiotic spindles of mouse oocytes. We measure a resolution increase of approximately 2-fold in the lateral and 3-fold in the axial direction throughout a depth of 60μm. This demonstrates that with our optimized workflow we reach a resolution that is comparable to 3D-SIM-imaging, but with better depth penetration for confocal images of beads and the biological sample. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Very High Spectral Resolution Imaging Spectroscopy: the Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Jose F.; Goulas, Yves; Huth, Andreas; Middleton, Elizabeth; Miglietta, Franco; Mohammed, Gina; Nedbal, Ladislav; Rascher, Uwe; Verhoef, Wouter; Drusch, Matthias

    2016-01-01

    The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission has been recently selected as the 8th Earth Explorer by the European Space Agency (ESA). It will be the first mission specifically designed to measure from space vegetation fluorescence emission, by making use of very high spectral resolution imaging spectroscopy techniques. Vegetation fluorescence is the best proxy to actual vegetation photosynthesis which can be measurable from space, allowing an improved quantification of vegetation carbon assimilation and vegetation stress conditions, thus having key relevance for global mapping of ecosystems dynamics and aspects related with agricultural production and food security. The FLEX mission carries the FLORIS spectrometer, with a spectral resolution in the range of 0.3 nm, and is designed to fly in tandem with Copernicus Sentinel-3, in order to provide all the necessary spectral / angular information to disentangle emitted fluorescence from reflected radiance, and to allow proper interpretation of the observed fluorescence spatial and temporal dynamics.

  4. Application of Super-Resolution Convolutional Neural Network for Enhancing Image Resolution in Chest CT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umehara, Kensuke; Ota, Junko; Ishida, Takayuki

    2017-10-18

    In this study, the super-resolution convolutional neural network (SRCNN) scheme, which is the emerging deep-learning-based super-resolution method for enhancing image resolution in chest CT images, was applied and evaluated using the post-processing approach. For evaluation, 89 chest CT cases were sampled from The Cancer Imaging Archive. The 89 CT cases were divided randomly into 45 training cases and 44 external test cases. The SRCNN was trained using the training dataset. With the trained SRCNN, a high-resolution image was reconstructed from a low-resolution image, which was down-sampled from an original test image. For quantitative evaluation, two image quality metrics were measured and compared to those of the conventional linear interpolation methods. The image restoration quality of the SRCNN scheme was significantly higher than that of the linear interpolation methods (p < 0.001 or p < 0.05). The high-resolution image reconstructed by the SRCNN scheme was highly restored and comparable to the original reference image, in particular, for a ×2 magnification. These results indicate that the SRCNN scheme significantly outperforms the linear interpolation methods for enhancing image resolution in chest CT images. The results also suggest that SRCNN may become a potential solution for generating high-resolution CT images from standard CT images.

  5. Portable high energy gamma ray imagers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guru, S.V.; Squillante, M.R.

    1996-01-01

    To satisfy the needs of high energy gamma ray imagers for industrial nuclear imaging applications, three high energy gamma cameras are presented. The RMD-Pinhole camera uses a lead pinhole collimator and a segmented BGO detector viewed by a 3 in. square position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT). This pinhole gamma camera displayed an energy resolution of 25.0% FWHM at the center of the camera at 662 keV and an angular resolution of 6.2 FWHM at 412 keV. The fixed multiple hole collimated camera (FMCC), used a multiple hole collimator and a continuous slab of NaI(Tl) detector viewed by the same PSPMT. The FMCC displayed an energy resolution of 12.4% FWHM at 662 keV at the center of the camera and an angular resolution of 6.0 FWHM at 412 keV. The rotating multiple hole collimated camera (RMCC) used a 180 antisymmetric rotation modulation collimator and CsI(Tl) detectors coupled to PIN silicon photodiodes. The RMCC displayed an energy resolution of 7.1% FWHM at 662 keV and an angular resolution of 4.0 FWHM at 810 keV. The performance of these imagers is discussed in this paper. (orig.)

  6. Resolution enhancement in medical ultrasound imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ploquin, Marie; Basarab, Adrian; Kouamé, Denis

    2015-01-01

    Image resolution enhancement is a problem of considerable interest in all medical imaging modalities. Unlike general purpose imaging or video processing, for a very long time, medical image resolution enhancement has been based on optimization of the imaging devices. Although some recent works purport to deal with image postprocessing, much remains to be done regarding medical image enhancement via postprocessing, especially in ultrasound imaging. We face a resolution improvement issue in the case of medical ultrasound imaging. We propose to investigate this problem using multidimensional autoregressive (AR) models. Noting that the estimation of the envelope of an ultrasound radio frequency (RF) signal is very similar to the estimation of classical Fourier-based power spectrum estimation, we theoretically show that a domain change and a multidimensional AR model can be used to achieve super-resolution in ultrasound imaging provided the order is estimated correctly. Here, this is done by means of a technique that simultaneously estimates the order and the parameters of a multidimensional model using relevant regression matrix factorization. Doing so, the proposed method specifically fits ultrasound imaging and provides an estimated envelope. Moreover, an expression that links the theoretical image resolution to both the image acquisition features (such as the point spread function) and a postprocessing feature (the AR model) order is derived. The overall contribution of this work is threefold. First, it allows for automatic resolution improvement. Through a simple model and without any specific manual algorithmic parameter tuning, as is used in common methods, the proposed technique simply and exclusively uses the ultrasound RF signal as input and provides the improved B-mode as output. Second, it allows for the a priori prediction of the improvement in resolution via the knowledge of the parametric model order before actual processing. Finally, to achieve the

  7. Discrete time interval measurement system: fundamentals, resolution and errors in the measurement of angular vibrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gómez de León, F C; Meroño Pérez, P A

    2010-01-01

    The traditional method for measuring the velocity and the angular vibration in the shaft of rotating machines using incremental encoders is based on counting the pulses at given time intervals. This method is generically called the time interval measurement system (TIMS). A variant of this method that we have developed in this work consists of measuring the corresponding time of each pulse from the encoder and sampling the signal by means of an A/D converter as if it were an analog signal, that is to say, in discrete time. For this reason, we have denominated this method as the discrete time interval measurement system (DTIMS). This measurement system provides a substantial improvement in the precision and frequency resolution compared with the traditional method of counting pulses. In addition, this method permits modification of the width of some pulses in order to obtain a mark-phase on every lap. This paper explains the theoretical fundamentals of the DTIMS and its application for measuring the angular vibrations of rotating machines. It also displays the required relationship between the sampling rate of the signal, the number of pulses of the encoder and the rotating velocity in order to obtain the required resolution and to delimit the methodological errors in the measurement

  8. High-contrast imaging of the close environment of HD 142527. VLT/NaCo adaptive optics thermal and angular differential imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rameau, J.; Chauvin, G.; Lagrange, A.-M.; Thébault, P.; Milli, J.; Girard, J. H.; Bonnefoy, M.

    2012-10-01

    Context. It has long been suggested that circumstellar disks surrounding young stars may be the signposts of planets, and even more so since the recent discoveries of embedded substellar companions. According to models, the planet-disk interaction may create large structures, gaps, rings, or spirals in the disk. In that sense, the Herbig star HD 142527 is particularly compelling, as its massive disk displays intriguing asymmetries that suggest the existence of a dynamical peturber of unknown nature. Aims: Our goal was to obtain deep thermal images of the close circumstellar environment of HD 142527 to re-image the reported close-in structures (cavity, spiral arms) of the disk and to search for stellar and substellar companions that could be connected to their presence. Methods: We obtained high-contrast images with the NaCo adaptive optics system at the Very Large Telescope in L'-band. We applied different analysis strategies using both classical PSF-subtraction and angular differential imaging to probe for any extended structures or point-like sources. Results: The circumstellar environment of HD 142527 is revealed at an unprecedented spatial resolution down to the subarcsecond level for the first time at 3.8 μm. Our images reveal important radial and azimuthal asymmetries that invalidate an elliptical shape for the disk. It instead suggests a bright inhomogeneous spiral arm plus various fainter spiral arms. We also confirm an inner cavity down to 30 AU and two important dips at position angles of 0 and 135 deg. The detection performance in angular differential imaging enables exploration of the planetary mass regime for projected physical separations as close as 40 AU. Use of our detection map together with Monte Carlo simulations sets stringent constraints on the presence of planetary mass, brown dwarf or stellar companions as a function of the semi-major axis. They severely limit any presence of massive giant planets with semi-major axis beyond 50 AU, i

  9. Improving angular resolution with Scan-MUSIC algorithm for real complex targets using 35-GHz millimeter-wave radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ly, Canh

    2004-08-01

    Scan-MUSIC algorithm, developed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), improves angular resolution for target detection with the use of a single rotatable radar scanning the angular region of interest. This algorithm has been adapted and extended from the MUSIC algorithm that has been used for a linear sensor array. Previously, it was shown that the SMUSIC algorithm and a Millimeter Wave radar can be used to resolve two closely spaced point targets that exhibited constructive interference, but not for the targets that exhibited destructive interference. Therefore, there were some limitations of the algorithm for the point targets. In this paper, the SMUSIC algorithm is applied to a problem of resolving real complex scatterer-type targets, which is more useful and of greater practical interest, particular for the future Army radar system. The paper presents results of the angular resolution of the targets, an M60 tank and an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), that are within the mainlobe of a Κα-band radar antenna. In particular, we applied the algorithm to resolve centroids of the targets that were placed within the beamwidth of the antenna. The collected coherent data using the stepped-frequency radar were compute magnitudely for the SMUSIC calculation. Even though there were significantly different signal returns for different orientations and offsets of the two targets, we resolved those two target centroids when they were as close as about 1/3 of the antenna beamwidth.

  10. Design of UHECR telescope with 1 arcmin resolution and 50 deg. field of view

    CERN Document Server

    Sasaki, M; Asaoka, Y

    2002-01-01

    A new telescope design based on Baker-Nunn optics is proposed for observation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The optical system has an image resolution better than 0.02 deg. within a wide field of view of 50 deg. angular diameter. When combined with a high-quality imaging device, the proposed design enables the directions of UHECRs and high-energy neutrinos to be determined with an accuracy better than 1 arcmin. The outstanding resolution of this telescope allows charge-separated cosmic-rays to be resolved and the source to be determined accurately. This marked improvement in angular resolution will allow the multi-wavelength and 'multi-particle' observations of astronomical objects through collaboration with established astronomical observations.

  11. Optimization of super-resolution processing using incomplete image sets in PET imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Guoping; Pan, Tinsu; Clark, John W; Mawlawi, Osama R

    2008-12-01

    Super-resolution (SR) techniques are used in PET imaging to generate a high-resolution image by combining multiple low-resolution images that have been acquired from different points of view (POVs). The number of low-resolution images used defines the processing time and memory storage necessary to generate the SR image. In this paper, the authors propose two optimized SR implementations (ISR-1 and ISR-2) that require only a subset of the low-resolution images (two sides and diagonal of the image matrix, respectively), thereby reducing the overall processing time and memory storage. In an N x N matrix of low-resolution images, ISR-1 would be generated using images from the two sides of the N x N matrix, while ISR-2 would be generated from images across the diagonal of the image matrix. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether the two proposed SR methods can achieve similar performance in contrast and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as the SR image generated from a complete set of low-resolution images (CSR) using simulation and experimental studies. A simulation, a point source, and a NEMA/IEC phantom study were conducted for this investigation. In each study, 4 (2 x 2) or 16 (4 x 4) low-resolution images were reconstructed from the same acquired data set while shifting the reconstruction grid to generate images from different POVs. SR processing was then applied in each study to combine all as well as two different subsets of the low-resolution images to generate the CSR, ISR-1, and ISR-2 images, respectively. For reference purpose, a native reconstruction (NR) image using the same matrix size as the three SR images was also generated. The resultant images (CSR, ISR-1, ISR-2, and NR) were then analyzed using visual inspection, line profiles, SNR plots, and background noise spectra. The simulation study showed that the contrast and the SNR difference between the two ISR images and the CSR image were on average 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. Line profiles of

  12. Chandra's Ultimate Angular Resolution: Studies of the HRC-I Point Spread Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juda, Michael; Karovska, M.

    2010-03-01

    The Chandra High Resolution Camera (HRC) should provide an ideal imaging match to the High-Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA). The laboratory-measured intrinsic resolution of the HRC is 20 microns FWHM. HRC event positions are determined via a centroiding method rather than by using discrete pixels. This event position reconstruction method and any non-ideal performance of the detector electronics can introduce distortions in event locations that, when combined with spacecraft dither, produce artifacts in source images. We compare ray-traces of the HRMA response to "on-axis" observations of AR Lac and Capella as they move through their dither patterns to images produced from filtered event lists to characterize the effective intrinsic PSF of the HRC-I. A two-dimensional Gaussian, which is often used to represent the detector response, is NOT a good representation of the intrinsic PSF of the HRC-I; the actual PSF has a sharper peak and additional structure which will be discussed. This work was supported under NASA contract NAS8-03060.

  13. Far-field super-resolution imaging of resonant multiples

    KAUST Repository

    Guo, Bowen

    2016-05-20

    We demonstrate for the first time that seismic resonant multiples, usually considered as noise, can be used for super-resolution imaging in the far-field region of sources and receivers. Tests with both synthetic data and field data show that resonant multiples can image reflector boundaries with resolutions more than twice the classical resolution limit. Resolution increases with the order of the resonant multiples. This procedure has important applications in earthquake and exploration seismology, radar, sonar, LIDAR (light detection and ranging), and ultrasound imaging, where the multiples can be used to make high-resolution images.

  14. Probing region-specific microstructure of human cortical areas using high angular and spatial resolution diffusion MRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aggarwal, Manisha; Nauen, David W; Troncoso, Juan C; Mori, Susumu

    2015-01-15

    Regional heterogeneity in cortical cyto- and myeloarchitecture forms the structural basis of mapping of cortical areas in the human brain. In this study, we investigate the potential of diffusion MRI to probe the microstructure of cortical gray matter and its region-specific heterogeneity across cortical areas in the fixed human brain. High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data at an isotropic resolution of 92-μm and 30 diffusion-encoding directions were acquired using a 3D diffusion-weighted gradient-and-spin-echo sequence, from prefrontal (Brodmann area 9), primary motor (area 4), primary somatosensory (area 3b), and primary visual (area 17) cortical specimens (n=3 each) from three human subjects. Further, the diffusion MR findings in these cortical areas were compared with histological silver impregnation of the same specimens, in order to investigate the underlying architectonic features that constitute the microstructural basis of diffusion-driven contrasts in cortical gray matter. Our data reveal distinct and region-specific diffusion MR contrasts across the studied areas, allowing delineation of intracortical bands of tangential fibers in specific layers-layer I, layer VI, and the inner and outer bands of Baillarger. The findings of this work demonstrate unique sensitivity of diffusion MRI to differentiate region-specific cortical microstructure in the human brain, and will be useful for myeloarchitectonic mapping of cortical areas as well as to achieve an understanding of the basis of diffusion NMR contrasts in cortical gray matter. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Super-resolution for asymmetric resolution of FIB-SEM 3D imaging using AI with deep learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagita, Katsumi; Higuchi, Takeshi; Jinnai, Hiroshi

    2018-04-12

    Scanning electron microscopy equipped with a focused ion beam (FIB-SEM) is a promising three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique for nano- and meso-scale morphologies. In FIB-SEM, the specimen surface is stripped by an ion beam and imaged by an SEM installed orthogonally to the FIB. The lateral resolution is governed by the SEM, while the depth resolution, i.e., the FIB milling direction, is determined by the thickness of the stripped thin layer. In most cases, the lateral resolution is superior to the depth resolution; hence, asymmetric resolution is generated in the 3D image. Here, we propose a new approach based on an image-processing or deep-learning-based method for super-resolution of 3D images with such asymmetric resolution, so as to restore the depth resolution to achieve symmetric resolution. The deep-learning-based method learns from high-resolution sub-images obtained via SEM and recovers low-resolution sub-images parallel to the FIB milling direction. The 3D morphologies of polymeric nano-composites are used as test images, which are subjected to the deep-learning-based method as well as conventional methods. We find that the former yields superior restoration, particularly as the asymmetric resolution is increased. Our super-resolution approach for images having asymmetric resolution enables observation time reduction.

  16. Sparsity-Based Super Resolution for SEM Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsiper, Shahar; Dicker, Or; Kaizerman, Idan; Zohar, Zeev; Segev, Mordechai; Eldar, Yonina C

    2017-09-13

    The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is an electron microscope that produces an image of a sample by scanning it with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with the atoms in the sample, which emit secondary electrons that contain information about the surface topography and composition. The sample is scanned by the electron beam point by point, until an image of the surface is formed. Since its invention in 1942, the capabilities of SEMs have become paramount in the discovery and understanding of the nanometer world, and today it is extensively used for both research and in industry. In principle, SEMs can achieve resolution better than one nanometer. However, for many applications, working at subnanometer resolution implies an exceedingly large number of scanning points. For exactly this reason, the SEM diagnostics of microelectronic chips is performed either at high resolution (HR) over a small area or at low resolution (LR) while capturing a larger portion of the chip. Here, we employ sparse coding and dictionary learning to algorithmically enhance low-resolution SEM images of microelectronic chips-up to the level of the HR images acquired by slow SEM scans, while considerably reducing the noise. Our methodology consists of two steps: an offline stage of learning a joint dictionary from a sequence of LR and HR images of the same region in the chip, followed by a fast-online super-resolution step where the resolution of a new LR image is enhanced. We provide several examples with typical chips used in the microelectronics industry, as well as a statistical study on arbitrary images with characteristic structural features. Conceptually, our method works well when the images have similar characteristics, as microelectronics chips do. This work demonstrates that employing sparsity concepts can greatly improve the performance of SEM, thereby considerably increasing the scanning throughput without compromising on analysis quality and resolution.

  17. Direct observation of strain in bulk subgrains and dislocation walls by high angular resolution three-dimensional X-ray diffraction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Bo; Lienert, U.; Almer, J.

    2008-01-01

    The X-ray diffraction (XRD) method "high angular resolution 3DXRD" is briefly introduced, and results are presented for a single bulk grain in a polycrystalline copper sample deformed in tension. It is found that the three-dimensional reciprocal-space intensity distribution of a 400 reflection...

  18. HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS OF FOUR CANDIDATE BLAST HIGH-MASS STARLESS CORES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olmi, Luca; Poventud, Carlos M.; Araya, Esteban D.; Chapin, Edward L.; Gibb, Andrew; Hofner, Peter; Martin, Peter G.

    2010-01-01

    We discuss high angular resolution observations of ammonia toward four candidate high-mass starless cores (HMSCs). The cores were identified by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) during its 2005 survey of the Vulpecula region where 60 compact sources were detected simultaneously at 250, 350, and 500 μm. Four of these cores, with no IRAS-PSC or MSX counterparts, were mapped with the NRAO Very Large Array and observed with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope in the NH 3 (1,1) and (2,2) spectral lines. Our observations indicate that the four cores are cold (T k -1 . The four BLAST cores appear to be colder and more quiescent than other previously observed HMSC candidates, suggesting an earlier stage of evolution.

  19. Coded aperture subreflector array for high resolution radar imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, Jonathan J.; Herrault, Florian; Kona, Keerti; Virbila, Gabriel; McGuire, Chuck; Wetzel, Mike; Fung, Helen; Prophet, Eric

    2017-05-01

    HRL Laboratories has been developing a new approach for high resolution radar imaging on stationary platforms. High angular resolution is achieved by operating at 235 GHz and using a scalable tile phased array architecture that has the potential to realize thousands of elements at an affordable cost. HRL utilizes aperture coding techniques to minimize the size and complexity of the RF electronics needed for beamforming, and wafer level fabrication and integration allow tiles containing 1024 elements to be manufactured with reasonable costs. This paper describes the results of an initial feasibility study for HRL's Coded Aperture Subreflector Array (CASA) approach for a 1024 element micromachined antenna array with integrated single-bit phase shifters. Two candidate electronic device technologies were evaluated over the 170 - 260 GHz range, GaN HEMT transistors and GaAs Schottky diodes. Array structures utilizing silicon micromachining and die bonding were evaluated for etch and alignment accuracy. Finally, the overall array efficiency was estimated to be about 37% (not including spillover losses) using full wave array simulations and measured device performance, which is a reasonable value at 235 GHz. Based on the measured data we selected GaN HEMT devices operated passively with 0V drain bias due to their extremely low DC power dissipation.

  20. An atlas of high-resolution IRAS maps on nearby galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rice, Walter

    1993-01-01

    An atlas of far-infrared IRAS maps with near 1 arcmin angular resolution of 30 optically large galaxies is presented. The high-resolution IRAS maps were produced with the Maximum Correlation Method (MCM) image construction and enhancement technique developed at IPAC. The MCM technique, which recovers the spatial information contained in the overlapping detector data samples of the IRAS all-sky survey scans, is outlined and tests to verify the structural reliability and photometric integrity of the high-resolution maps are presented. The infrared structure revealed in individual galaxies is discussed. The atlas complements the IRAS Nearby Galaxy High-Resolution Image Atlas, the high-resolution galaxy images encoded in FITS format, which is provided to the astronomical community as an IPAC product.

  1. SMA OBSERVATIONS OF CLASS 0 PROTOSTARS: A HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION SURVEY OF PROTOSTELLAR BINARY SYSTEMS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen Xuepeng [Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 West Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008 (China); Arce, Hector G.; Dunham, Michael M. [Department of Astronomy, Yale University, Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520-8101 (United States); Zhang Qizhou; Bourke, Tyler L. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Launhardt, Ralf; Henning, Thomas [Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Jorgensen, Jes K. [Niels Bohr Institute and Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Copenhagen University, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen O (Denmark); Lee, Chin-Fei [Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 106, Taiwan (China); Foster, Jonathan B. [Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 (United States); Pineda, Jaime E., E-mail: xpchen@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: xuepeng.chen@yale.edu [ESO, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 2, D-85748 Garching bei Munchen (Germany)

    2013-05-10

    We present high angular resolution 1.3 mm and 850 {mu}m dust continuum data obtained with the Submillimeter Array toward 33 Class 0 protostars in nearby clouds (distance < 500 pc), which represents so far the largest survey toward protostellar binary/multiple systems. The median angular resolution in the survey is 2.''5, while the median linear resolution is approximately 600 AU. Compact dust continuum emission is observed from all sources in the sample. Twenty-one sources in the sample show signatures of binarity/multiplicity, with separations ranging from 50 AU to 5000 AU. The numbers of singles, binaries, triples, and quadruples in the sample are 12, 14, 5, and 2, respectively. The derived multiplicity frequency (MF) and companion star fraction (CSF) for Class 0 protostars are 0.64 {+-} 0.08 and 0.91 {+-} 0.05, respectively, with no correction for completeness. The derived MF and CSF in this survey are approximately two times higher than the values found in the binary surveys toward Class I young stellar objects, and approximately three (for MF) and four (for CSF) times larger than the values found among main-sequence stars, with a similar range of separations. Furthermore, the observed fraction of high-order multiple systems to binary systems in Class 0 protostars (0.50 {+-} 0.09) is also larger than the fractions found in Class I young stellar objects (0.31 {+-} 0.07) and main-sequence stars ({<=}0.2). These results suggest that binary properties evolve as protostars evolve, as predicted by numerical simulations. The distribution of separations for Class 0 protostellar binary/multiple systems shows a general trend in which CSF increases with decreasing companion separation. We find that 67% {+-} 8% of the protobinary systems have circumstellar mass ratios below 0.5, implying that unequal-mass systems are preferred in the process of binary star formation. We suggest an empirical sequential fragmentation picture for binary star formation, based on this

  2. Color image guided depth image super resolution using fusion filter

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Jin; Liang, Bin; He, Ying; Yang, Jun

    2018-04-01

    Depth cameras are currently playing an important role in many areas. However, most of them can only obtain lowresolution (LR) depth images. Color cameras can easily provide high-resolution (HR) color images. Using color image as a guide image is an efficient way to get a HR depth image. In this paper, we propose a depth image super resolution (SR) algorithm, which uses a HR color image as a guide image and a LR depth image as input. We use the fusion filter of guided filter and edge based joint bilateral filter to get HR depth image. Our experimental results on Middlebury 2005 datasets show that our method can provide better quality in HR depth images both numerically and visually.

  3. PREFACE: Astronomy at High Angular Resolution 2011: The central kiloparsec in galactic nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iserlohe, Christof; Karas, Vladimir; Krips, Melanie; Eckart, Andreas; Britzen, Silke; Fischer, Sebastian

    2012-07-01

    We are pleased to present the proceedings from the Astronomy at High Angular Resolution 2011: The central kiloparsec in galactic nuclei conference. The conference took place in the Physikzentrum of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), Bad Honnef, Germany, from 28 August to 2 September 2011. It was the second conference of this kind, following the Astronomy at High Angular Resolution conference held in Bad Honnef, three years earlier in 2008. The main objective of the conference was to frame the discussion of the broad range of physical processes that occur in the central 100pc of galactic nuclei. In most cases, this domain is difficult to probe through observations. This is mainly because of the lack of angular resolution, the brightness of the central engine and possible obscurations through dust and gas, which play together in the central regions of host galaxies of galactic nuclei within a broad range of activity. The presence of large amounts of molecular and atomic (both neutral and ionized) gas, dust and central engines with outflows and jets implies that the conditions for star formation in these regions are very special, and probably different from those in the disks of host galaxies. Numerous presentations covering a broad range of topics, both theoretical and experimental, those related to research on Active Galactic Nuclei and on a wide range of observed wavelengths were submitted to the Scientific Organizing Committee. Presentations have been grouped into six sessions: The nuclei of active galaxies The Galactic Center The immediate environment of Super Massive Black Holes The physics of nuclear jets and the interaction of the interstellar medium The central 100pc of the nuclear environment Star formation in that region The editors thank all participants of the AHAR 2011 conference for their enthusiasm and their numerous and vivid contributions to this conference. We would especially like to thank John Hugh Seiradakis from the Aristotle

  4. Resolution enhancement of tri-stereo remote sensing images by super resolution methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuna, Caglayan; Akoguz, Alper; Unal, Gozde; Sertel, Elif

    2016-10-01

    Super resolution (SR) refers to generation of a High Resolution (HR) image from a decimated, blurred, low-resolution (LR) image set, which can be either a single frame or multi-frame that contains a collection of several images acquired from slightly different views of the same observation area. In this study, we propose a novel application of tri-stereo Remote Sensing (RS) satellite images to the super resolution problem. Since the tri-stereo RS images of the same observation area are acquired from three different viewing angles along the flight path of the satellite, these RS images are properly suited to a SR application. We first estimate registration between the chosen reference LR image and other LR images to calculate the sub pixel shifts among the LR images. Then, the warping, blurring and down sampling matrix operators are created as sparse matrices to avoid high memory and computational requirements, which would otherwise make the RS-SR solution impractical. Finally, the overall system matrix, which is constructed based on the obtained operator matrices is used to obtain the estimate HR image in one step in each iteration of the SR algorithm. Both the Laplacian and total variation regularizers are incorporated separately into our algorithm and the results are presented to demonstrate an improved quantitative performance against the standard interpolation method as well as improved qualitative results due expert evaluations.

  5. A 2D eye gaze estimation system with low-resolution webcam images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Jin

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In this article, a low-cost system for 2D eye gaze estimation with low-resolution webcam images is presented. Two algorithms are proposed for this purpose, one for the eye-ball detection with stable approximate pupil-center and the other one for the eye movements' direction detection. Eyeball is detected using deformable angular integral search by minimum intensity (DAISMI algorithm. Deformable template-based 2D gaze estimation (DTBGE algorithm is employed as a noise filter for deciding the stable movement decisions. While DTBGE employs binary images, DAISMI employs gray-scale images. Right and left eye estimates are evaluated separately. DAISMI finds the stable approximate pupil-center location by calculating the mass-center of eyeball border vertices to be employed for initial deformable template alignment. DTBGE starts running with initial alignment and updates the template alignment with resulting eye movements and eyeball size frame by frame. The horizontal and vertical deviation of eye movements through eyeball size is considered as if it is directly proportional with the deviation of cursor movements in a certain screen size and resolution. The core advantage of the system is that it does not employ the real pupil-center as a reference point for gaze estimation which is more reliable against corneal reflection. Visual angle accuracy is used for the evaluation and benchmarking of the system. Effectiveness of the proposed system is presented and experimental results are shown.

  6. MIPS - The Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF. [Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieke, G. H.; Lada, C.; Lebofsky, M.; Low, F.; Strittmatter, P.; Young, E.; Arens, J.; Beichman, C.; Gautier, T. N.; Werner, M.

    1986-01-01

    The Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF (MIPS) is to be designed to reach as closely as possible the fundamental sensitivity and angular resolution limits for SIRTF over the 3 to 700 micron spectral region. It will use high performance photoconductive detectors from 3 to 200 micron with integrating JFET amplifiers. From 200 to 700 microns, the MIPS will use a bolometer cooled by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. Over much of its operating range, the MIPS will make possible observations at and beyond the conventional Rayleigh diffraction limit of angular resolution.

  7. Image Quality in High-resolution and High-cadence Solar Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denker, C.; Dineva, E.; Balthasar, H.; Verma, M.; Kuckein, C.; Diercke, A.; González Manrique, S. J.

    2018-03-01

    Broad-band imaging and even imaging with a moderate bandpass (about 1 nm) provides a photon-rich environment, where frame selection (lucky imaging) becomes a helpful tool in image restoration, allowing us to perform a cost-benefit analysis on how to design observing sequences for imaging with high spatial resolution in combination with real-time correction provided by an adaptive optics (AO) system. This study presents high-cadence (160 Hz) G-band and blue continuum image sequences obtained with the High-resolution Fast Imager (HiFI) at the 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope, where the speckle-masking technique is used to restore images with nearly diffraction-limited resolution. The HiFI employs two synchronized large-format and high-cadence sCMOS detectors. The median filter gradient similarity (MFGS) image-quality metric is applied, among others, to AO-corrected image sequences of a pore and a small sunspot observed on 2017 June 4 and 5. A small region of interest, which was selected for fast-imaging performance, covered these contrast-rich features and their neighborhood, which were part of Active Region NOAA 12661. Modifications of the MFGS algorithm uncover the field- and structure-dependency of this image-quality metric. However, MFGS still remains a good choice for determining image quality without a priori knowledge, which is an important characteristic when classifying the huge number of high-resolution images contained in data archives. In addition, this investigation demonstrates that a fast cadence and millisecond exposure times are still insufficient to reach the coherence time of daytime seeing. Nonetheless, the analysis shows that data acquisition rates exceeding 50 Hz are required to capture a substantial fraction of the best seeing moments, significantly boosting the performance of post-facto image restoration.

  8. Mass loss of evolved massive stars: the circumstellar environment at high angular resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montarges, Miguel

    2014-01-01

    Mass loss of evolved stars is still largely mysterious, despite its importance as the main evolution engine for the chemical composition of the interstellar medium. For red supergiants (RSG), the triggering of the outflow and the mechanism of dust condensation remain unknown. Concerning red giant stars, we still do not know how their mass loss is able to form a bipolar planetary nebula. During my PhD thesis, I observed evolved stars with high angular resolution techniques. They allowed us to study the surface and the close environment of these stars, from where mass loss originates. With near-infrared interferometric observations, I characterized the water vapor and carbon monoxide envelope of the nearby RSG Betelgeuse. I also monitored a hot spot on its surface and analyzed the structure of its convection, as well as that of Antares (another very nearby supergiant) thanks to radiative hydrodynamical simulations. Diffraction-limited imaging techniques (near-infrared adaptive optics, ultraviolet space telescope) allowed me to observe the evolution of inhomogeneities in the circumstellar envelope of Betelgeuse and to discover a circumstellar disk around L2 Puppis, an asymptotic giant branch star. These multi-scale and multi-wavelength observations obtained at several epochs allowed us to monitor the evolution of the structures and to derive information on the dynamics of the stellar environment. With a wider stellar sample expected in the next few years, this observing program will allow a better understanding of the mass loss of evolved stars. (author)

  9. Multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Junlei Zhang; Dianguang Gai; Xin Zhang; Xuemei Li

    2017-01-01

    Example-based super-resolution algorithms,which predict unknown high-resolution image information using a relationship model learnt from known high- and low-resolution image pairs, have attracted considerable interest in the field of image processing. In this paper, we propose a multi-example feature-constrained back-projection method for image super-resolution. Firstly, we take advantage of a feature-constrained polynomial interpolation method to enlarge the low-resolution image. Next, we consider low-frequency images of different resolutions to provide an example pair. Then, we use adaptive k NN search to find similar patches in the low-resolution image for every image patch in the high-resolution low-frequency image, leading to a regression model between similar patches to be learnt. The learnt model is applied to the low-resolution high-frequency image to produce high-resolution high-frequency information. An iterative back-projection algorithm is used as the final step to determine the final high-resolution image.Experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the visual quality of the high-resolution image.

  10. SINGLE FRAME SUPER RESOLUTION OF NONCOOPERATIVE IRIS IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anand Deshpande

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Image super-resolution, a process to enhance image resolution, has important applications in biometrics, satellite imaging, high definition television, medical imaging, etc. The long range captured iris identification systems often suffer from low resolution and meager focus of the captured iris images. These degrade the iris recognition performance. This paper proposes enhanced iterated back projection (EIBP method to super resolute the long range captured iris polar images. The performance of proposed method is tested and analyzed on CASIA long range iris database by comparing peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR and structural similarity index (SSIM with state-of-the-art super resolution (SR algorithms. It is further analyzed by increasing the up-sampling factor. Performance analysis shows that the proposed method is superior to state-of-the-art algorithms, the peak signal-to-noise ratio improved about 0.1-1.5 dB. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is well suited to super resolve the iris polar images captured at a long distance

  11. Super-resolution imaging applied to moving object tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swalaganata, Galandaru; Ratna Sulistyaningrum, Dwi; Setiyono, Budi

    2017-10-01

    Moving object tracking in a video is a method used to detect and analyze changes that occur in an object that being observed. Visual quality and the precision of the tracked target are highly wished in modern tracking system. The fact that the tracked object does not always seem clear causes the tracking result less precise. The reasons are low quality video, system noise, small object, and other factors. In order to improve the precision of the tracked object especially for small object, we propose a two step solution that integrates a super-resolution technique into tracking approach. First step is super-resolution imaging applied into frame sequences. This step was done by cropping the frame in several frame or all of frame. Second step is tracking the result of super-resolution images. Super-resolution image is a technique to obtain high-resolution images from low-resolution images. In this research single frame super-resolution technique is proposed for tracking approach. Single frame super-resolution was a kind of super-resolution that it has the advantage of fast computation time. The method used for tracking is Camshift. The advantages of Camshift was simple calculation based on HSV color that use its histogram for some condition and color of the object varies. The computational complexity and large memory requirements required for the implementation of super-resolution and tracking were reduced and the precision of the tracked target was good. Experiment showed that integrate a super-resolution imaging into tracking technique can track the object precisely with various background, shape changes of the object, and in a good light conditions.

  12. Imaging Lithium Atoms at Sub-Angstrom Resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' Keefe, Michael A.; Shao-Horn, Yang

    2005-01-03

    John Cowley and his group at ASU were pioneers in the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for high-resolution imaging. Three decades ago they achieved images showing the crystal unit cell content at better than 4A resolution. Over the years, this achievement has inspired improvements in resolution that have enabled researchers to pinpoint the positions of heavy atom columns within the cell. More recently, this ability has been extended to light atoms as resolution has improved. Sub-Angstrom resolution has enabled researchers to image the columns of light atoms (carbon, oxygen and nitrogen) that are present in many complex structures. By using sub-Angstrom focal-series reconstruction of the specimen exit surface wave to image columns of cobalt, oxygen, and lithium atoms in a transition metal oxide structure commonly used as positive electrodes in lithium rechargeable batteries, we show that the range of detectable light atoms extends to lithium. HRTEM at sub-Angstrom resolution will provide the essential role of experimental verification for the emergent nanotech revolution. Our results foreshadow those to be expected from next-generation TEMs with CS-corrected lenses and monochromated electron beams.

  13. Resolution-recovery-embedded image reconstruction for a high-resolution animal SPECT system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeraatkar, Navid; Sajedi, Salar; Farahani, Mohammad Hossein; Arabi, Hossein; Sarkar, Saeed; Ghafarian, Pardis; Rahmim, Arman; Ay, Mohammad Reza

    2014-11-01

    The small-animal High-Resolution SPECT (HiReSPECT) is a dedicated dual-head gamma camera recently designed and developed in our laboratory for imaging of murine models. Each detector is composed of an array of 1.2 × 1.2 mm(2) (pitch) pixelated CsI(Na) crystals. Two position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (H8500) are coupled to each head's crystal. In this paper, we report on a resolution-recovery-embedded image reconstruction code applicable to the system and present the experimental results achieved using different phantoms and mouse scans. Collimator-detector response functions (CDRFs) were measured via a pixel-driven method using capillary sources at finite distances from the head within the field of view (FOV). CDRFs were then fitted by independent Gaussian functions. Thereafter, linear interpolations were applied to the standard deviation (σ) values of the fitted Gaussians, yielding a continuous map of CDRF at varying distances from the head. A rotation-based maximum-likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) method was used for reconstruction. A fast rotation algorithm was developed to rotate the image matrix according to the desired angle by means of pre-generated rotation maps. The experiments demonstrated improved resolution utilizing our resolution-recovery-embedded image reconstruction. While the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) radial and tangential resolution measurements of the system were over 2 mm in nearly all positions within the FOV without resolution recovery, reaching around 2.5 mm in some locations, they fell below 1.8 mm everywhere within the FOV using the resolution-recovery algorithm. The noise performance of the system was also acceptable; the standard deviation of the average counts per voxel in the reconstructed images was 6.6% and 8.3% without and with resolution recovery, respectively. Copyright © 2014 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Super-resolution thermographic imaging using blind structured illumination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgholzer, Peter; Berer, Thomas; Gruber, Jürgen; Mayr, Günther

    2017-07-01

    Using an infrared camera for thermographic imaging allows the contactless temperature measurement of many surface pixels simultaneously. From the measured surface data, the structure below the surface, embedded inside a sample or tissue, can be reconstructed and imaged, if heated by an excitation light pulse. The main drawback in active thermographic imaging is the degradation of the spatial resolution with the imaging depth, which results in blurred images for deeper lying structures. We circumvent this degradation by using blind structured illumination combined with a non-linear joint sparsity reconstruction algorithm. We demonstrate imaging of a line pattern and a star-shaped structure through a 3 mm thick steel sheet with a resolution four times better than the width of the thermal point-spread-function. The structured illumination is realized by parallel slits cut in an aluminum foil, where the excitation coming from a flashlight can penetrate. This realization of super-resolution thermographic imaging demonstrates that blind structured illumination allows thermographic imaging without high degradation of the spatial resolution for deeper lying structures. The groundbreaking concept of super-resolution can be transferred from optics to diffusive imaging by defining a thermal point-spread-function, which gives the principle resolution limit for a certain signal-to-noise ratio, similar to the Abbe limit for a certain optical wavelength. In future work, the unknown illumination pattern could be the speckle pattern generated by a short laser pulse inside a light scattering sample or tissue.

  15. Angularly-resolved elastic scatter from single particles collected over a large solid angle and with high resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aptowicz, Kevin B; Chang, Richard K

    2005-01-01

    Elastic light scattering from a single non-spherical particle of various morphologies has been measured simultaneously with a large angular range (90 deg. < θ < 165 deg. and 0 deg. < φ < 360 deg.) and with high angular resolution (1024 pixels in θ and 512 pixels in φ). Because the single-shot laser pulse is short (pulse duration of 70 ns), the tumbling and flowing particle can be treated as frozen in space. The large angle two-dimensional angular optical scattering (hereafter referred to as LA TAOS) intensity pattern, I(θ,φ), has been measured for a variety of particle morphology, such as the following: (1) single polystyrene latex (PSL) sphere; (2) cluster of PSL spheres; (3) single Bacillus subtilis (BG) spore; (4) cluster of BG spores; (5) dried aggregates of bio-aerosols as well as background clutter aerosols. All these measurements were made using the second harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser (0.532 μm). Islands structures in the LA TAOS patterns seem to be the prominent feature. Efforts are being made to extract metrics from these islands and compare them to theoretical results based on the T-matrix method

  16. A Fast Algorithm for Image Super-Resolution from Blurred Observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ng Michael K

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the problem of reconstruction of a high-resolution image from several blurred low-resolution image frames. The image frames consist of blurred, decimated, and noisy versions of a high-resolution image. The high-resolution image is modeled as a Markov random field (MRF, and a maximum a posteriori (MAP estimation technique is used for the restoration. We show that with the periodic boundary condition, a high-resolution image can be restored efficiently by using fast Fourier transforms. We also apply the preconditioned conjugate gradient method to restore high-resolution images in the aperiodic boundary condition. Computer simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

  17. Efficient creation of electron vortex beams for high resolution STEM imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Béché, A; Juchtmans, R; Verbeeck, J

    2017-07-01

    The recent discovery of electron vortex beams carrying quantised angular momentum in the TEM has led to an active field of research, exploring a variety of potential applications including the possibility of mapping magnetic states at the atomic scale. A prerequisite for this is the availability of atomic sized electron vortex beams at high beam current and mode purity. In this paper we present recent progress showing that by making use of the Aharonov-Bohm effect near the tip of a long single domain ferromagnetic Nickel needle, a very efficient aperture for the production of electron vortex beams can be realised. The aperture transmits more than 99% of all electrons and provides a vortex mode purity of up to 92%. Placing this aperture in the condenser plane of a state of the art Cs corrected microscope allows us to demonstrate atomic resolution HAADF STEM images with spatial resolution better than 1 Angström, in agreement with theoretical expectations and only slightly inferior to the performance of a non-vortex probe on the same instrument. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Microwave imaging of spinning object using orbital angular momentum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Kang; Li, Xiang; Gao, Yue; Wang, Hongqiang; Cheng, Yongqiang

    2017-09-01

    The linear Doppler shift used for the detection of a spinning object becomes significantly weakened when the line of sight (LOS) is perpendicular to the object, which will result in the failure of detection. In this paper, a new detection and imaging technique for spinning objects is developed. The rotational Doppler phenomenon is observed by using the microwave carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). To converge the radiation energy on the area where objects might exist, the generation method of OAM beams is proposed based on the frequency diversity principle, and the imaging model is derived accordingly. The detection method of the rotational Doppler shift and the imaging approach of the azimuthal profiles are proposed, which are verified by proof-of-concept experiments. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that OAM beams can still be used to obtain the azimuthal profiles of spinning objects even when the LOS is perpendicular to the object. This work remedies the insufficiency in existing microwave sensing technology and offers a new solution to the object identification problem.

  19. Second generation stationary digital breast tomosynthesis system with faster scan time and wider angular span.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calliste, Jabari; Wu, Gongting; Laganis, Philip E; Spronk, Derrek; Jafari, Houman; Olson, Kyle; Gao, Bo; Lee, Yueh Z; Zhou, Otto; Lu, Jianping

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this study was to characterize a new generation stationary digital breast tomosynthesis system with higher tube flux and increased angular span over a first generation system. The linear CNT x-ray source was designed, built, and evaluated to determine its performance parameters. The second generation system was then constructed using the CNT x-ray source and a Hologic gantry. Upon construction, test objects and phantoms were used to characterize system resolution as measured by the modulation transfer function (MTF), and artifact spread function (ASF). The results indicated that the linear CNT x-ray source was capable of stable operation at a tube potential of 49 kVp, and measured focal spot sizes showed source-to-source consistency with a nominal focal spot size of 1.1 mm. After construction, the second generation (Gen 2) system exhibited entrance surface air kerma rates two times greater the previous s-DBT system. System in-plane resolution as measured by the MTF is 7.7 cycles/mm, compared to 6.7 cycles/mm for the Gen 1 system. As expected, an increase in the z-axis depth resolution was observed, with a decrease in the ASF from 4.30 mm to 2.35 mm moving from the Gen 1 system to the Gen 2 system as result of an increased angular span. The results indicate that the Gen 2 stationary digital breast tomosynthesis system, which has a larger angular span, increased entrance surface air kerma, and faster image acquisition time over the Gen 1 s-DBT system, results in higher resolution images. With the detector operating at full resolution, the Gen 2 s-DBT system can achieve an in-plane resolution of 7.7 cycles per mm, which is better than the current commercial DBT systems today, and may potentially result in better patient diagnosis. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

  20. Single Image Super Resolution via Sparse Reconstruction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kruithof, M.C.; Eekeren, A.W.M. van; Dijk, J.; Schutte, K.

    2012-01-01

    High resolution sensors are required for recognition purposes. Low resolution sensors, however, are still widely used. Software can be used to increase the resolution of such sensors. One way of increasing the resolution of the images produced is using multi-frame super resolution algorithms.

  1. High resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy and the fascinating angular momentum realm of the atomic nucleus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riley, M A; Simpson, J; Paul, E S

    2016-01-01

    In 1974 Aage Bohr and Ben Mottelson predicted the different ‘phases’ that may be expected in deformed nuclei as a function of increasing angular momentum and excitation energy all the way up to the fission limit. While admitting their picture was highly conjectural they confidently stated ‘...with the ingenious experimental approaches that are being developed, we may look forward with excitement to the detailed spectroscopic studies that will illuminate the behaviour of the spinning quantised nucleus’ . High resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy has indeed been a major tool in studying the structure of atomic nuclei and has witnessed numerous significant advances over the last four decades. This article will select highlights from investigations at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark, and Daresbury Laboratory, UK, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some of which have continued at other national laboratories in Europe and the USA to the present day. These studies illustrate the remarkable diversity of phenomena and symmetries exhibited by nuclei in the angular momentum–excitation energy plane that continue to surprise and fascinate scientists. (invited comment)

  2. High resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy and the fascinating angular momentum realm of the atomic nucleus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, M. A.; Simpson, J.; Paul, E. S.

    2016-12-01

    In 1974 Aage Bohr and Ben Mottelson predicted the different ‘phases’ that may be expected in deformed nuclei as a function of increasing angular momentum and excitation energy all the way up to the fission limit. While admitting their picture was highly conjectural they confidently stated ‘...with the ingenious experimental approaches that are being developed, we may look forward with excitement to the detailed spectroscopic studies that will illuminate the behaviour of the spinning quantised nucleus’. High resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy has indeed been a major tool in studying the structure of atomic nuclei and has witnessed numerous significant advances over the last four decades. This article will select highlights from investigations at the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark, and Daresbury Laboratory, UK, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some of which have continued at other national laboratories in Europe and the USA to the present day. These studies illustrate the remarkable diversity of phenomena and symmetries exhibited by nuclei in the angular momentum-excitation energy plane that continue to surprise and fascinate scientists.

  3. Reproducible high-resolution multispectral image acquisition in dermatology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duliu, Alexandru; Gardiazabal, José; Lasser, Tobias; Navab, Nassir

    2015-07-01

    Multispectral image acquisitions are increasingly popular in dermatology, due to their improved spectral resolution which enables better tissue discrimination. Most applications however focus on restricted regions of interest, imaging only small lesions. In this work we present and discuss an imaging framework for high-resolution multispectral imaging on large regions of interest.

  4. Isotope specific resolution recovery image reconstruction in high resolution PET imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kotasidis, Fotis A.; Angelis, Georgios I.; Anton-Rodriguez, Jose; Matthews, Julian C.; Reader, Andrew J.; Zaidi, Habib

    Purpose: Measuring and incorporating a scanner-specific point spread function (PSF) within image reconstruction has been shown to improve spatial resolution in PET. However, due to the short half-life of clinically used isotopes, other long-lived isotopes not used in clinical practice are used to

  5. Atomic resolution images of graphite in air

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grigg, D.A.; Shedd, G.M.; Griffis, D.; Russell, P.E.

    1988-12-01

    One sample used for proof of operation for atomic resolution in STM is highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). This sample has been imaged with many different STM`s obtaining similar results. Atomic resolution images of HOPG have now been obtained using an STM designed and built at the Precision Engineering Center. This paper discusses the theoretical predictions and experimental results obtained in imaging of HOPG.

  6. Low drive field amplitude for improved image resolution in magnetic particle imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croft, Laura R; Goodwill, Patrick W; Konkle, Justin J; Arami, Hamed; Price, Daniel A; Li, Ada X; Saritas, Emine U; Conolly, Steven M

    2016-01-01

    Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a new imaging technology that directly detects superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. The technique has potential medical applications in angiography, cell tracking, and cancer detection. In this paper, the authors explore how nanoparticle relaxation affects image resolution. Historically, researchers have analyzed nanoparticle behavior by studying the time constant of the nanoparticle physical rotation. In contrast, in this paper, the authors focus instead on how the time constant of nanoparticle rotation affects the final image resolution, and this reveals nonobvious conclusions for tailoring MPI imaging parameters for optimal spatial resolution. The authors first extend x-space systems theory to include nanoparticle relaxation. The authors then measure the spatial resolution and relative signal levels in an MPI relaxometer and a 3D MPI imager at multiple drive field amplitudes and frequencies. Finally, these image measurements are used to estimate relaxation times and nanoparticle phase lags. The authors demonstrate that spatial resolution, as measured by full-width at half-maximum, improves at lower drive field amplitudes. The authors further determine that relaxation in MPI can be approximated as a frequency-independent phase lag. These results enable the authors to accurately predict MPI resolution and sensitivity across a wide range of drive field amplitudes and frequencies. To balance resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, specific absorption rate, and magnetostimulation requirements, the drive field can be a low amplitude and high frequency. Continued research into how the MPI drive field affects relaxation and its adverse effects will be crucial for developing new nanoparticles tailored to the unique physics of MPI. Moreover, this theory informs researchers how to design scanning sequences to minimize relaxation-induced blurring for better spatial resolution or to exploit relaxation-induced blurring for MPI with

  7. Empirical single sample quantification of bias and variance in Q-ball imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainline, Allison E; Nath, Vishwesh; Parvathaneni, Prasanna; Blaber, Justin A; Schilling, Kurt G; Anderson, Adam W; Kang, Hakmook; Landman, Bennett A

    2018-02-06

    The bias and variance of high angular resolution diffusion imaging methods have not been thoroughly explored in the literature and may benefit from the simulation extrapolation (SIMEX) and bootstrap techniques to estimate bias and variance of high angular resolution diffusion imaging metrics. The SIMEX approach is well established in the statistics literature and uses simulation of increasingly noisy data to extrapolate back to a hypothetical case with no noise. The bias of calculated metrics can then be computed by subtracting the SIMEX estimate from the original pointwise measurement. The SIMEX technique has been studied in the context of diffusion imaging to accurately capture the bias in fractional anisotropy measurements in DTI. Herein, we extend the application of SIMEX and bootstrap approaches to characterize bias and variance in metrics obtained from a Q-ball imaging reconstruction of high angular resolution diffusion imaging data. The results demonstrate that SIMEX and bootstrap approaches provide consistent estimates of the bias and variance of generalized fractional anisotropy, respectively. The RMSE for the generalized fractional anisotropy estimates shows a 7% decrease in white matter and an 8% decrease in gray matter when compared with the observed generalized fractional anisotropy estimates. On average, the bootstrap technique results in SD estimates that are approximately 97% of the true variation in white matter, and 86% in gray matter. Both SIMEX and bootstrap methods are flexible, estimate population characteristics based on single scans, and may be extended for bias and variance estimation on a variety of high angular resolution diffusion imaging metrics. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  8. Overcoming Registration Uncertainty in Image Super-Resolution: Maximize or Marginalize?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Zisserman

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In multiple-image super-resolution, a high-resolution image is estimated from a number of lower-resolution images. This usually involves computing the parameters of a generative imaging model (such as geometric and photometric registration, and blur and obtaining a MAP estimate by minimizing a cost function including an appropriate prior. Two alternative approaches are examined. First, both registrations and the super-resolution image are found simultaneously using a joint MAP optimization. Second, we perform Bayesian integration over the unknown image registration parameters, deriving a cost function whose only variables of interest are the pixel values of the super-resolution image. We also introduce a scheme to learn the parameters of the image prior as part of the super-resolution algorithm. We show examples on a number of real sequences including multiple stills, digital video, and DVDs of movies.

  9. Improved Plane-Wave Ultrasound Beamforming by Incorporating Angular Weighting and Coherent Compounding in Fourier Domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chuan; Hendriks, Gijs A G M; van Sloun, Ruud J G; Hansen, Hendrik H G; de Korte, Chris L

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, a novel processing framework is introduced for Fourier-domain beamforming of plane-wave ultrasound data, which incorporates coherent compounding and angular weighting in the Fourier domain. Angular weighting implies spectral weighting by a 2-D steering-angle-dependent filtering template. The design of this filter is also optimized as part of this paper. Two widely used Fourier-domain plane-wave ultrasound beamforming methods, i.e., Lu's f-k and Stolt's f-k methods, were integrated in the framework. To enable coherent compounding in Fourier domain for the Stolt's f-k method, the original Stolt's f-k method was modified to achieve alignment of the spectra for different steering angles in k-space. The performance of the framework was compared for both methods with and without angular weighting using experimentally obtained data sets (phantom and in vivo), and data sets (phantom) provided by the IEEE IUS 2016 plane-wave beamforming challenge. The addition of angular weighting enhanced the image contrast while preserving image resolution. This resulted in images of equal quality as those obtained by conventionally used delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming with apodization and coherent compounding. Given the lower computational load of the proposed framework compared to DAS, to our knowledge it can, therefore, be concluded that it outperforms commonly used beamforming methods such as Stolt's f-k, Lu's f-k, and DAS.

  10. HRTEM imaging of atoms at sub-Angstroem resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Keefe, Michael A.; Allard, Lawrence F.; Blom, Douglas A.

    2005-01-01

    John Cowley and his group at Arizona State University pioneered the use of transmission electron microscopy for high-resolution imaging. Images were achieved three decades ago showing the crystal unit cell content at better than 4 A resolution. This achievement enabled researchers to pinpoint the positions of heavy atom columns within the unit cell. Lighter atoms appear as resolution is improved to sub-Angstroem levels. Currently, advanced microscopes can image the columns of the light atoms (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen) that are present in many complex structures, and even the lithium atoms present in some battery materials. Sub-Angstroem imaging, initially achieved by focal-series reconstruction of the specimen exit surface wave, will become commonplace for next-generation electron microscopes with C s -corrected lenses and monochromated electron beams. Resolution can be quantified in terms of peak separation and inter-peak minimum, but the limits imposed on the attainable resolution by the properties of the microscope specimen need to be considered. At extreme resolution the 'size' of atoms can mean that they will not be resolved even when spaced farther apart than the resolution of the microscope. (author)

  11. HRTEM Imaging of Atoms at Sub-Angstrom Resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' Keefe, Michael A.; Allard, Lawrence F.; Blom, Douglas A.

    2005-04-06

    John Cowley and his group at Arizona State University pioneered the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for high-resolution imaging. Images were achieved three decades ago showing the crystal unit cell content at better than 4 Angstrom resolution. This achievement enabled researchers to pinpoint the positions of heavy atom columns within the unit cell. Lighter atoms appear as resolution is improved to sub-Angstrom levels. Currently, advanced microscopes can image the columns of the light atoms (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen) that are present in many complex structures, and even the lithium atoms present in some battery materials. Sub-Angstrom imaging, initially achieved by focal-series reconstruction of the specimen exit surface wave, will become common place for next-generation electron microscopes with CS-corrected lenses and monochromated electron beams. Resolution can be quantified in terms of peak separation and inter-peak minimum, but the limits imposed on the attainable resolution by the properties of the micro-scope specimen need to be considered. At extreme resolution the ''size'' of atoms can mean that they will not be resolved even when spaced farther apart than the resolution of the microscope.

  12. A hybrid concept (segmented plus monolithic fused silica shells) for a high-throughput and high-angular resolution x-ray mission (Lynx/X-Ray Surveyor like)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basso, Stefano; Civitani, Marta; Pareschi, Giovanni; Parodi, Giancarlo

    2017-09-01

    Lynx is a large area and high angular resolution X-ray mission being studied by NASA to be presented to the next Decadal Survey for the implementation in the next decade. It aims to realize an X-ray telescope with the effective area similar to Athena (2 m2 at 1 keV) but with the same angular resolution of Chandra and a much larger Field Of View (up 20 arcmin x 20 arcmin). The science of X-ray Surveyor requires a large-throughput mirror assembly with sub-arcsec angular resolution. These future X-ray mirrors have a set of requirements which, collectively, represents very substantial advances over any currently in operation or planned for missions other than X-ray Surveyor. Of particular importance is achieving low mass per unit collecting area, while maintaining Chandra like angular resolution. Among the possible solutions under study, the direct polishing of both thin monolithic pseudo-cylindrical shells and segments made of fused silica are being considered as viable solutions for the implementation of the mirrors. Fused silica has very good thermomechanical parameters (including a very low CTE), making the material particularly well suited for for the production of the Lynx mirrors. It should be noted that the use of close shells is also very attractive, since the operations for the integration of the shells will be greatly simplified and the area lost due to the vignetting from the interfacing structures minimized even if the management of such big (diameter of 3 m) and thin shells have to be demonstrated. In this paper we will discuss a possible basic layout for a full shell mirror and a hybrid concept (segmented plus monolithic shells made of fused silica) as a second solution, for the Lynx/XRS telescope, discussing preliminary results in terms of optical and mechanical performance.

  13. SMART-X: Square Meter, Arcsecond Resolution Telescope for X-rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vikhlinin, Alexey; SMART-X Collaboration

    2013-04-01

    SMART-X is a concept for a next-generation X-ray observatory with large-area, 0.5" angular resolution grazing incidence adjustable X-ray mirrors, high-throughput critical angle transmission gratings, and X-ray microcalorimeter and CMOS-based imager in the focal plane. High angular resolution is enabled by new technology based on controlling the shape of mirror segments using thin film piezo actuators deposited on the back surface. Science applications include observations of growth of supermassive black holes since redshifts of ~10, ultra-deep surveys over 10's of square degrees, galaxy assembly at z=2-3, as well as new opportunities in the high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and time domains. We also review the progress in technology development, tests, and mission design over the past year.

  14. Modelling high-resolution electron microscopy based on core-loss spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, L.J.; Findlay, S.D.; Oxley, M.P.; Witte, C.; Zaluzec, N.J.

    2006-01-01

    There are a number of factors affecting the formation of images based on core-loss spectroscopy in high-resolution electron microscopy. We demonstrate unambiguously the need to use a full nonlocal description of the effective core-loss interaction for experimental results obtained from high angular resolution electron channelling electron spectroscopy. The implications of this model are investigated for atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Simulations are used to demonstrate that core-loss spectroscopy images formed using fine probes proposed for future microscopes can result in images that do not correspond visually with the structure that has led to their formation. In this context, we also examine the effect of varying detector geometries. The importance of the contribution to core-loss spectroscopy images by dechannelled or diffusely scattered electrons is reiterated here

  15. Dependency of image quality on system configuration parameters in a stationary digital breast tomosynthesis system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Andrew W.; Lu, Jianping; Zhou, Otto

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: In principle, a stationary digital breast tomosynthesis (s-DBT) system has better image quality when compared to continuous motion DBT systems due to zero motion blur of the source. The authors have developed a s-DBT system by using a linear carbon nanotube x-ray source array. The purpose of the current study was to quantitatively evaluate the performance of the s-DBT system; and investigate the dependence of imaging quality on the system configuration parameters. Methods: Physical phantoms were used to assess the image quality of each configuration including inplane resolution as measured by the modulation transfer function (MTF), inplane contrast as measured by the signal difference to noise ratio (SdNR), and depth resolution as measured by the z-axis artifact spread function. Five parameters were varied to create five groups of configurations: (1) total angular span; (2) total number of projection images; (3) distribution of exposure (mAs) across the projection images; (4) entrance dose; (5) detector pixel size. Results: It was found that the z-axis depth resolution increased with the total angular span but was insensitive to the number of projection images, mAs distribution, entrance dose, and detector pixel size. The SdNR was not affected by the angular span or the number of projection images. A decrease in SdNR was observed when the mAs was not evenly distributed across the projection images. As expected, the SdNR increased with entrance dose and when larger pixel sizes were used. For a given detector pixel size, the inplane resolution was found to be insensitive to the total angular span, number of projection images, mAs distribution, and entrance dose. A 25% increase in the MTF was observed when the detector was operating in full resolution mode (70 μm pixel size) compared to 2 × 2 binned mode (140 μm pixel size). Conclusions: The results suggest that the optimal imaging configuration for a s-DBT system is a large angular span, an intermittent

  16. Self-triggered image intensifier tube for high-resolution UHECR imaging detector

    CERN Document Server

    Sasaki, M; Jobashi, M

    2003-01-01

    The authors have developed a self-triggered image intensifier tube with high-resolution imaging capability. An image detected by a first image intensifier tube as an electrostatic lens with a photocathode diameter of 100 mm is separated by a half-mirror into a path for CCD readout (768x494 pixels) and a fast control to recognize and trigger the image. The proposed system provides both a high signal-to-noise ratio to improve single photoelectron detection and excellent spatial resolution between 207 and 240 mu m rendering this device a potentially essential tool for high-energy physics and astrophysics experiments, as well as high-speed photography. When combined with a 1-arcmin resolution optical system with 50 deg. field-of-view proposed by the present authors, the observation of ultra high-energy cosmic rays and high-energy neutrinos using this device is expected, leading to revolutionary progress in particle astrophysics as a complementary technique to traditional astronomical observations at multiple wave...

  17. High-resolution SPECT for small-animal imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qi Yujin

    2006-01-01

    This article presents a brief overview of the development of high-resolution SPECT for small-animal imaging. A pinhole collimator has been used for high-resolution animal SPECT to provide better spatial resolution and detection efficiency in comparison with a parallel-hole collimator. The theory of imaging characteristics of the pinhole collimator is presented and the designs of the pinhole aperture are discussed. The detector technologies used for the development of small-animal SPECT and the recent advances are presented. The evolving trend of small-animal SPECT is toward a multi-pinhole and a multi-detector system to obtain a high resolution and also a high detection efficiency. (authors)

  18. Super-resolution imaging of subcortical white matter using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainsworth, A. H.; Lee, S.; Patel, A.; Poon, W. W.; Knight, A. E.

    2018-01-01

    Aims The spatial resolution of light microscopy is limited by the wavelength of visible light (the ‘diffraction limit’, approximately 250 nm). Resolution of sub-cellular structures, smaller than this limit, is possible with super resolution methods such as stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). We aimed to resolve subcellular structures (axons, myelin sheaths and astrocytic processes) within intact white matter, using STORM and SOFI. Methods Standard cryostat-cut sections of subcortical white matter from donated human brain tissue and from adult rat and mouse brain were labelled, using standard immunohistochemical markers (neurofilament-H, myelin-associated glycoprotein, glial fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP). Image sequences were processed for STORM (effective pixel size 8–32 nm) and for SOFI (effective pixel size 80 nm). Results In human, rat and mouse, subcortical white matter high-quality images for axonal neurofilaments, myelin sheaths and filamentous astrocytic processes were obtained. In quantitative measurements, STORM consistently underestimated width of axons and astrocyte processes (compared with electron microscopy measurements). SOFI provided more accurate width measurements, though with somewhat lower spatial resolution than STORM. Conclusions Super resolution imaging of intact cryo-cut human brain tissue is feasible. For quantitation, STORM can under-estimate diameters of thin fluorescent objects. SOFI is more robust. The greatest limitation for super-resolution imaging in brain sections is imposed by sample preparation. We anticipate that improved strategies to reduce autofluorescence and to enhance fluorophore performance will enable rapid expansion of this approach. PMID:28696566

  19. Super-resolution imaging of subcortical white matter using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainsworth, A H; Lee, S; Foot, P; Patel, A; Poon, W W; Knight, A E

    2017-07-11

    The spatial resolution of light microscopy is limited by the wavelength of visible light (the 'diffraction limit', approximately 250 nm). Resolution of sub-cellular structures, smaller than this limit, is possible with super resolution methods such as stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). We aimed to resolve subcellular structures (axons, myelin sheaths and astrocytic processes) within intact white matter, using STORM and SOFI. Standard cryostat-cut sections of subcortical white matter from donated human brain tissue and from adult rat and mouse brain were labelled, using standard immunohistochemical markers (neurofilament-H, myelin-associated glycoprotein, glial fibrillary acidic protein, GFAP). Image sequences were processed for STORM (effective pixel size 8-32 nm) and for SOFI (effective pixel size 80 nm). In human, rat and mouse, subcortical white matter high-quality images for axonal neurofilaments, myelin sheaths and filamentous astrocytic processes were obtained. In quantitative measurements, STORM consistently underestimated width of axons and astrocyte processes (compared with electron microscopy measurements). SOFI provided more accurate width measurements, though with somewhat lower spatial resolution than STORM. Super resolution imaging of intact cryo-cut human brain tissue is feasible. For quantitation, STORM can under-estimate diameters of thin fluorescent objects. SOFI is more robust. The greatest limitation for super-resolution imaging in brain sections is imposed by sample preparation. We anticipate that improved strategies to reduce autofluorescence and to enhance fluorophore performance will enable rapid expansion of this approach. © 2017 British Neuropathological Society.

  20. Computed tomography with selectable image resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dibianca, F.A.; Dallapiazza, D.G.

    1981-01-01

    A computed tomography system x-ray detector has a central group of half-width detector elements and groups of full-width elements on each side of the central group. To obtain x-ray attenuation data for whole body layers, the half-width elements are switched effectively into paralleled pairs so all elements act like full-width elements and an image of normal resolution is obtained. For narrower head layers, the elements in the central group are used as half-width elements so resolution which is twice as great as normal is obtained. The central group is also used in the half-width mode and the outside groups are used in the full-width mode to obtain a high resolution image of a body zone within a full body layer. In one embodiment data signals from the detector are switched by electronic multiplexing and in another embodiment a processor chooses the signals for the various kinds of images that are to be reconstructed. (author)

  1. Section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI)

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI) develops novel technologies for studying biological processes at unprecedented speed and resolution. Research...

  2. High-resolution Compton cameras based on Si/CdTe double-sided strip detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Odaka, Hirokazu; Ichinohe, Yuto; Takeda, Shin'ichiro; Fukuyama, Taro; Hagino, Koichi; Saito, Shinya; Sato, Tamotsu; Sato, Goro; Watanabe, Shin; Kokubun, Motohide; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Yamaguchi, Mitsutaka

    2012-01-01

    We have developed a new Compton camera based on silicon (Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor double-sided strip detectors (DSDs). The camera consists of a 500-μm-thick Si-DSD and four layers of 750-μm-thick CdTe-DSDs all of which have common electrode configuration segmented into 128 strips on each side with pitches of 250μm. In order to realize high angular resolution and to reduce size of the detector system, a stack of DSDs with short stack pitches of 4 mm is utilized to make the camera. Taking advantage of the excellent energy and position resolutions of the semiconductor devices, the camera achieves high angular resolutions of 4.5° at 356 keV and 3.5° at 662 keV. To obtain such high resolutions together with an acceptable detection efficiency, we demonstrate data reduction methods including energy calibration using Compton scattering continuum and depth sensing in the CdTe-DSD. We also discuss imaging capability of the camera and show simultaneous multi-energy imaging.

  3. Image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT: A sensitivity analysis of respiratory signal, binning method, reconstruction algorithm, and projection angular spacing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shieh, Chun-Chien; Kipritidis, John; O’Brien, Ricky T.; Keall, Paul J.; Kuncic, Zdenka

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Respiratory signal, binning method, and reconstruction algorithm are three major controllable factors affecting image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT), which is widely used in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Previous studies have investigated each of these factors individually, but no integrated sensitivity analysis has been performed. In addition, projection angular spacing is also a key factor in reconstruction, but how it affects image quality is not obvious. An investigation of the impacts of these four factors on image quality can help determine the most effective strategy in improving 4D-CBCT for IGRT. Methods: Fourteen 4D-CBCT patient projection datasets with various respiratory motion features were reconstructed with the following controllable factors: (i) respiratory signal (real-time position management, projection image intensity analysis, or fiducial marker tracking), (ii) binning method (phase, displacement, or equal-projection-density displacement binning), and (iii) reconstruction algorithm [Feldkamp–Davis–Kress (FDK), McKinnon–Bates (MKB), or adaptive-steepest-descent projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS)]. The image quality was quantified using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio, and edge-response width in order to assess noise/streaking and blur. The SNR values were also analyzed with respect to the maximum, mean, and root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) projection angular spacing to investigate how projection angular spacing affects image quality. Results: The choice of respiratory signals was found to have no significant impact on image quality. Displacement-based binning was found to be less prone to motion artifacts compared to phase binning in more than half of the cases, but was shown to suffer from large interbin image quality variation and large projection angular gaps. Both MKB and ASD-POCS resulted in noticeably improved image quality almost 100% of the time relative to FDK. In addition, SNR

  4. Image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT: A sensitivity analysis of respiratory signal, binning method, reconstruction algorithm, and projection angular spacing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shieh, Chun-Chien [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia and Institute of Medical Physics, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Kipritidis, John; O’Brien, Ricky T.; Keall, Paul J., E-mail: paul.keall@sydney.edu.au [Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Kuncic, Zdenka [Institute of Medical Physics, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia)

    2014-04-15

    Purpose: Respiratory signal, binning method, and reconstruction algorithm are three major controllable factors affecting image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT), which is widely used in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Previous studies have investigated each of these factors individually, but no integrated sensitivity analysis has been performed. In addition, projection angular spacing is also a key factor in reconstruction, but how it affects image quality is not obvious. An investigation of the impacts of these four factors on image quality can help determine the most effective strategy in improving 4D-CBCT for IGRT. Methods: Fourteen 4D-CBCT patient projection datasets with various respiratory motion features were reconstructed with the following controllable factors: (i) respiratory signal (real-time position management, projection image intensity analysis, or fiducial marker tracking), (ii) binning method (phase, displacement, or equal-projection-density displacement binning), and (iii) reconstruction algorithm [Feldkamp–Davis–Kress (FDK), McKinnon–Bates (MKB), or adaptive-steepest-descent projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS)]. The image quality was quantified using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio, and edge-response width in order to assess noise/streaking and blur. The SNR values were also analyzed with respect to the maximum, mean, and root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) projection angular spacing to investigate how projection angular spacing affects image quality. Results: The choice of respiratory signals was found to have no significant impact on image quality. Displacement-based binning was found to be less prone to motion artifacts compared to phase binning in more than half of the cases, but was shown to suffer from large interbin image quality variation and large projection angular gaps. Both MKB and ASD-POCS resulted in noticeably improved image quality almost 100% of the time relative to FDK. In addition, SNR

  5. Photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels with a double-ring sensor featuring a narrow angular aperture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kolkman, R.G.M.; Hondebrink, Erwin; Steenbergen, Wiendelt; van Leeuwen, Ton; de Mul, F.F.M.

    2004-01-01

    A photoacoustic double-ring sensor, featuring a narrow angular aperture, is developed for laser-induced photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels. An integrated optical fiber enables reflection-mode detection of ultrasonic waves. By using the cross-correlation between the signals detected by the two

  6. Influences of image resolution on herbaceous root morphological parameters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZHANG Zeyou

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Root images of four herbaceous species (including Plantago virginica,Solidago canadensis,Conyza canadensis and Erigeron philadelphicus were obtained by using EPSON V7000 scanner with different resolutions.Root morphological parameters including root length,diameter,volume and area were determined by using a WinRhizo root analyzing software.The results show a distinct influence of image resolution on root morphological parameter.For different herbaceous species,the optimal resolutions of root images,which would produce an acceptable precision with relative short time,vary with different species.For example,a resolution of 200 dpi was recommended for the root images of Plantago virginica and S.Canadensis, while 400 dpi for Conyza canadensis and Erigeron philadelphicus.

  7. Holographic atom imaging from experimental photoelectron angular distribution patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Terminello, L.J.; Lapiano-Smith, D.A.; Barton, J.J.; Shirley, D.A.

    1993-11-01

    One of the most challenging areas of materials research is the imaging of technologically relevant materials with microscopic and atomic-scale resolution. As part of the development of these methods, near-surface atoms in single crystals were imaged using core-level photoelectron holograms. The angle-dependent electron diffraction patterns that constitute an electron hologram were two-dimensionally transformed to create a three dimensional, real-space image of the neighboring scattering atoms. They have made use of a multiple-wavenumber, phased-summing method to improve the atom imaging capabilities of experimental photoelectron holography using the Cu(001) and Pt(111) prototype systems. These studies are performed to evaluate the potential of holographic atom imaging methods as structural probes of unknown materials

  8. Single image super-resolution based on convolutional neural networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Lamei; Luo, Ming; Yang, Weidong; Li, Peng; Jin, Liujia

    2018-03-01

    We present a deep learning method for single image super-resolution (SISR). The proposed approach learns end-to-end mapping between low-resolution (LR) images and high-resolution (HR) images. The mapping is represented as a deep convolutional neural network which inputs the LR image and outputs the HR image. Our network uses 5 convolution layers, which kernels size include 5×5, 3×3 and 1×1. In our proposed network, we use residual-learning and combine different sizes of convolution kernels at the same layer. The experiment results show that our proposed method performs better than the existing methods in reconstructing quality index and human visual effects on benchmarked images.

  9. High resolution transmission imaging without lenses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodenburg, J M; Hurst, A C; Maiden, A

    2010-01-01

    The whole history of transmission imaging has been dominated by the lens, whether used in visible-light optics, electron optics or X-ray optics. Lenses can be thought of as a very efficient method of processing a wave front scattered from an object into an image of that object. An alternative approach is to undertake this image-formation process using a computational technique. The crudest scattering experiment is to simply record the intensity of a diffraction pattern. Recent progress in so-called diffractive imaging has shown that it is possible to recover the phase of a scattered wavefield from its diffraction pattern alone, as long as the object (or the illumination on the object) is of finite extent. In this paper we present results from a very efficient phase retrieval method which can image infinitely large fields of view. It may have important applications in improving resolution in electron microscopy, or at least allowing low specification microscopes to achieve resolution comparable to state-of-the-art machines.

  10. Exploring sex differences in the adult zebra finch brain: In vivo diffusion tensor imaging and ex vivo super-resolution track density imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamaide, Julie; De Groof, Geert; Van Steenkiste, Gwendolyn; Jeurissen, Ben; Van Audekerke, Johan; Naeyaert, Maarten; Van Ruijssevelt, Lisbeth; Cornil, Charlotte; Sijbers, Jan; Verhoye, Marleen; Van der Linden, Annemie

    2017-02-01

    Zebra finches are an excellent model to study the process of vocal learning, a complex socially-learned tool of communication that forms the basis of spoken human language. So far, structural investigation of the zebra finch brain has been performed ex vivo using invasive methods such as histology. These methods are highly specific, however, they strongly interfere with performing whole-brain analyses and exclude longitudinal studies aimed at establishing causal correlations between neuroplastic events and specific behavioral performances. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to implement an in vivo Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) protocol sensitive enough to detect structural sex differences in the adult zebra finch brain. Voxel-wise comparison of male and female DTI parameter maps shows clear differences in several components of the song control system (i.e. Area X surroundings, the high vocal center (HVC) and the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (LMAN)), which corroborate previous findings and are in line with the clear behavioral difference as only males sing. Furthermore, to obtain additional insights into the 3-dimensional organization of the zebra finch brain and clarify findings obtained by the in vivo study, ex vivo DTI data of the male and female brain were acquired as well, using a recently established super-resolution reconstruction (SRR) imaging strategy. Interestingly, the SRR-DTI approach led to a marked reduction in acquisition time without interfering with the (spatial and angular) resolution and SNR which enabled to acquire a data set characterized by a 78μm isotropic resolution including 90 diffusion gradient directions within 44h of scanning time. Based on the reconstructed SRR-DTI maps, whole brain probabilistic Track Density Imaging (TDI) was performed for the purpose of super resolved track density imaging, further pushing the resolution up to 40μm isotropic. The DTI and TDI maps realized atlas

  11. Super-Resolution of Plant Disease Images for the Acceleration of Image-based Phenotyping and Vigor Diagnosis in Agriculture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Kyosuke; Togami, Takashi; Yamaguchi, Norio

    2017-11-06

    Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) are a very promising branch of technology, and they have been utilized in agriculture-in cooperation with image processing technologies-for phenotyping and vigor diagnosis. One of the problems in the utilization of UAVs for agricultural purposes is the limitation in flight time. It is necessary to fly at a high altitude to capture the maximum number of plants in the limited time available, but this reduces the spatial resolution of the captured images. In this study, we applied a super-resolution method to the low-resolution images of tomato diseases to recover detailed appearances, such as lesions on plant organs. We also conducted disease classification using high-resolution, low-resolution, and super-resolution images to evaluate the effectiveness of super-resolution methods in disease classification. Our results indicated that the super-resolution method outperformed conventional image scaling methods in spatial resolution enhancement of tomato disease images. The results of disease classification showed that the accuracy attained was also better by a large margin with super-resolution images than with low-resolution images. These results indicated that our approach not only recovered the information lost in low-resolution images, but also exerted a beneficial influence on further image analysis. The proposed approach will accelerate image-based phenotyping and vigor diagnosis in the field, because it not only saves time to capture images of a crop in a cultivation field but also secures the accuracy of these images for further analysis.

  12. MIPS - The Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieke, G. H.; Lada, C.; Lebofsky, M.; Low, F.; Strittmatter, P.; Young, E.; Beichman, C.; Gautier, T. N.; Mould, J.; Werner, M.

    1986-01-01

    The Multiband Imaging Photometer System (MIPS) for SIRTF is to be designed to reach as closely as possible the fundamental sensitivity and angular resolution limits for SIRTF over the 3 to 700 microns spectral region. It will use high performance photoconductive detectors from 3 to 200 microns with integrating JFET amplifiers. From 200 to 700 microns, the MIPS will use a bolometer cooled by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. Over much of its operating range, the MIPS will make possible observations at and beyond the conventional Rayleigh diffraction limit of angular resolution.

  13. Noise reduction methods in the analysis of near infrared lunar occultation light curves for high angular resolution measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baug Tapas; Chandrasekhar Thyagarajan

    2013-01-01

    A lunar occultation (LO) technique in the near-infrared (NIR) provides angular resolution down to milliarcseconds for an occulted source, even with ground-based 1 m class telescopes. LO observations are limited to brighter objects because they require a high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ∼40) for proper extraction of angular diameter values. Hence, methods to improve the S/N ratio by reducing noise using Fourier and wavelet transforms have been explored in this study. A sample of 54 NIR LO light curves observed with the IR camera at Mt Abu Observatory has been used. It is seen that both Fourier and wavelet methods have shown an improvement in S/N compared to the original data. However, the application of wavelet transforms causes a slight smoothing of the fringes and results in a higher value for angular diameter. Fourier transforms which reduce discrete noise frequencies do not distort the fringe. The Fourier transform method seems to be effective in improving the S/N, as well as improving the model fit, particularly in the fainter regime of our sample. These methods also provide a better model fit for brighter sources in some cases, though there may not be a significant improvement in S/N

  14. SPECT imaging with resolution recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bronnikov, A. V.

    2011-01-01

    Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a method of choice for imaging spatial distributions of radioisotopes. Many applications of this method are found in nuclear industry, medicine, and biomedical research. We study mathematical modeling of a micro-SPECT system by using a point-spread function (PSF) and implement an OSEM-based iterative algorithm for image reconstruction with resolution recovery. Unlike other known implementations of the OSEM algorithm, we apply en efficient computation scheme based on a useful approximation of the PSF, which ensures relatively fast computations. The proposed approach can be applied with the data acquired with any type of collimators, including parallel-beam fan-beam, cone-beam and pinhole collimators. Experimental results obtained with a micro SPECT system demonstrate high efficiency of resolution recovery. (authors)

  15. Super-Resolution of Plant Disease Images for the Acceleration of Image-based Phenotyping and Vigor Diagnosis in Agriculture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyosuke Yamamoto

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones are a very promising branch of technology, and they have been utilized in agriculture—in cooperation with image processing technologies—for phenotyping and vigor diagnosis. One of the problems in the utilization of UAVs for agricultural purposes is the limitation in flight time. It is necessary to fly at a high altitude to capture the maximum number of plants in the limited time available, but this reduces the spatial resolution of the captured images. In this study, we applied a super-resolution method to the low-resolution images of tomato diseases to recover detailed appearances, such as lesions on plant organs. We also conducted disease classification using high-resolution, low-resolution, and super-resolution images to evaluate the effectiveness of super-resolution methods in disease classification. Our results indicated that the super-resolution method outperformed conventional image scaling methods in spatial resolution enhancement of tomato disease images. The results of disease classification showed that the accuracy attained was also better by a large margin with super-resolution images than with low-resolution images. These results indicated that our approach not only recovered the information lost in low-resolution images, but also exerted a beneficial influence on further image analysis. The proposed approach will accelerate image-based phenotyping and vigor diagnosis in the field, because it not only saves time to capture images of a crop in a cultivation field but also secures the accuracy of these images for further analysis.

  16. Radiofrequency encoded angular-resolved light scattering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buckley, Brandon W.; Akbari, Najva; Diebold, Eric D.

    2015-01-01

    The sensitive, specific, and label-free classification of microscopic cells and organisms is one of the outstanding problems in biology. Today, instruments such as the flow cytometer use a combination of light scatter measurements at two distinct angles to infer the size and internal complexity...... of cells at rates of more than 10,000 per second. However, by examining the entire angular light scattering spectrum it is possible to classify cells with higher resolution and specificity. Current approaches to performing these angular spectrum measurements all have significant throughput limitations...... Encoded Angular-resolved Light Scattering (REALS), this technique multiplexes angular light scattering in the radiofrequency domain, such that a single photodetector captures the entire scattering spectrum from a particle over approximately 100 discrete incident angles on a single shot basis. As a proof...

  17. Localization-based super-resolution imaging of cellular structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanchanawong, Pakorn; Waterman, Clare M

    2013-01-01

    Fluorescence microscopy allows direct visualization of fluorescently tagged proteins within cells. However, the spatial resolution of conventional fluorescence microscopes is limited by diffraction to ~250 nm, prompting the development of super-resolution microscopy which offers resolution approaching the scale of single proteins, i.e., ~20 nm. Here, we describe protocols for single molecule localization-based super-resolution imaging, using focal adhesion proteins as an example and employing either photoswitchable fluorophores or photoactivatable fluorescent proteins. These protocols should also be easily adaptable to imaging a broad array of macromolecular assemblies in cells whose components can be fluorescently tagged and assemble into high density structures.

  18. Ultra high resolution soft x-ray tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haddad, W.S.; Trebes, J.E.; Goodman, D.M.

    1995-01-01

    Ultra high resolution three dimensional images of a microscopic test object were made with soft x-rays using a scanning transmission x-ray microscope. The test object consisted of two different patterns of gold bars on silicon nitride windows that were separated by ∼5μm. A series of nine 2-D images of the object were recorded at angles between -50 to +55 degrees with respect to the beam axis. The projections were then combined tomographically to form a 3-D image by means of an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) algorithm. A transverse resolution of ∼1000 Angstrom was observed. Artifacts in the reconstruction limited the overall depth resolution to ∼6000 Angstrom, however some features were clearly reconstructed with a depth resolution of ∼1000 Angstrom. A specially modified ART algorithm and a constrained conjugate gradient (CCG) code were also developed as improvements over the standard ART algorithm. Both of these methods made significant improvements in the overall depth resolution bringing it down to ∼1200 Angstrom overall. Preliminary projection data sets were also recorded with both dry and re-hydrated human sperm cells over a similar angular range

  19. Ultra high resolution soft x-ray tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haddad, W.S.; Trebes, J.E.; Goodman, D.M.; Lee, H.R.; McNulty, I.; Zalensky, A.O.

    1995-01-01

    Ultra high resolution three dimensional images of a microscopic test object were made with soft x-rays using a scanning transmission x-ray microscope. The test object consisted of two different patterns of gold bars on silicon nitride windows that were separated by ∼5 microm. A series of nine 2-D images of the object were recorded at angles between -50 to +55 degrees with respect to the beam axis. The projections were then combined tomographically to form a 3-D image by means of an algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) algorithm. A transverse resolution of ∼ 1,000 angstrom was observed. Artifacts in the reconstruction limited the overall depth resolution to ∼ 6,000 angstrom, however some features were clearly reconstructed with a depth resolution of ∼ 1,000 angstrom. A specially modified ART algorithm and a constrained conjugate gradient (CCG) code were also developed as improvements over the standard ART algorithm. Both of these methods made significant improvements in the overall depth resolution, bringing it down to ∼ 1,200 angstrom overall. Preliminary projection data sets were also recorded with both dry and re-hydrated human sperm cells over a similar angular range

  20. High-resolution axial MR imaging of tibial stress injuries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mammoto Takeo

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Purpose To evaluate the relative involvement of tibial stress injuries using high-resolution axial MR imaging and the correlation with MR and radiographic images. Methods A total of 33 patients with exercise-induced tibial pain were evaluated. All patients underwent radiograph and high-resolution axial MR imaging. Radiographs were taken at initial presentation and 4 weeks later. High-resolution MR axial images were obtained using a microscopy surface coil with 60 × 60 mm field of view on a 1.5T MR unit. All images were evaluated for abnormal signals of the periosteum, cortex and bone marrow. Results Nineteen patients showed no periosteal reaction at initial and follow-up radiographs. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue and partially abnormal signals in the bone marrow. In 7 patients, periosteal reaction was not seen at initial radiograph, but was detected at follow-up radiograph. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue and entire bone marrow. Abnormal signals in the cortex were found in 6 patients. The remaining 7 showed periosteal reactions at initial radiograph. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue in 6 patients. Abnormal signals were seen in the partial and entire bone marrow in 4 and 3 patients, respectively. Conclusions Bone marrow abnormalities in high-resolution axial MR imaging were related to periosteal reactions at follow-up radiograph. Bone marrow abnormalities might predict later periosteal reactions, suggesting shin splints or stress fractures. High-resolution axial MR imaging is useful in early discrimination of tibial stress injuries.

  1. High-resolution axial MR imaging of tibial stress injuries

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Purpose To evaluate the relative involvement of tibial stress injuries using high-resolution axial MR imaging and the correlation with MR and radiographic images. Methods A total of 33 patients with exercise-induced tibial pain were evaluated. All patients underwent radiograph and high-resolution axial MR imaging. Radiographs were taken at initial presentation and 4 weeks later. High-resolution MR axial images were obtained using a microscopy surface coil with 60 × 60 mm field of view on a 1.5T MR unit. All images were evaluated for abnormal signals of the periosteum, cortex and bone marrow. Results Nineteen patients showed no periosteal reaction at initial and follow-up radiographs. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue and partially abnormal signals in the bone marrow. In 7 patients, periosteal reaction was not seen at initial radiograph, but was detected at follow-up radiograph. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue and entire bone marrow. Abnormal signals in the cortex were found in 6 patients. The remaining 7 showed periosteal reactions at initial radiograph. MR imaging showed abnormal signals in the periosteal tissue in 6 patients. Abnormal signals were seen in the partial and entire bone marrow in 4 and 3 patients, respectively. Conclusions Bone marrow abnormalities in high-resolution axial MR imaging were related to periosteal reactions at follow-up radiograph. Bone marrow abnormalities might predict later periosteal reactions, suggesting shin splints or stress fractures. High-resolution axial MR imaging is useful in early discrimination of tibial stress injuries. PMID:22574840

  2. Noise analysis of grating-based x-ray differential phase-contrast imaging with angular signal radiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faiz, Wali; Gao Kun; Wu Zhao; Wei Chen-Xi; Zan Gui-Bin; Tian Yang-Chao; Bao Yuan; Zhu Pei-Ping

    2017-01-01

    X-ray phase-contrast imaging is one of the novel techniques, and has potential to enhance image quality and provide the details of inner structures nondestructively. In this work, we investigate quantitatively signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging (GBPCI) system by employing angular signal radiography (ASR). Moreover, photon statistics and mechanical error that is a major source of noise are investigated in detail. Results show the dependence of SNR on the system parameters and the effects on the extracted absorption, refraction and scattering images. Our conclusions can be used to optimize the system design for upcoming practical applications in the areas such as material science and biomedical imaging. (paper)

  3. Dynamic high resolution imaging of rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyaoka, R.S.; Lewellen, T.K.; Bice, A.N.

    1990-01-01

    A positron emission tomography with the sensitivity and resolution to do dynamic imaging of rats would be an invaluable tool for biological researchers. In this paper, the authors determine the biological criteria for dynamic positron emission imaging of rats. To be useful, 3 mm isotropic resolution and 2-3 second time binning were necessary characteristics for such a dedicated tomograph. A single plane in which two objects of interest could be imaged simultaneously was considered acceptable. Multi-layered detector designs were evaluated as a possible solution to the dynamic imaging and high resolution imaging requirements. The University of Washington photon history generator was used to generate data to investigate a tomograph's sensitivity to true, scattered and random coincidences for varying detector ring diameters. Intrinsic spatial uniformity advantages of multi-layered detector designs over conventional detector designs were investigated using a Monte Carlo program. As a result, a modular three layered detector prototype is being developed. A module will consist of a layer of five 3.5 mm wide crystals and two layers of six 2.5 mm wide crystals. The authors believe adequate sampling can be achieved with a stationary detector system using these modules. Economical crystal decoding strategies have been investigated and simulations have been run to investigate optimum light channeling methods for block decoding strategies. An analog block decoding method has been proposed and will be experimentally evaluated to determine whether it can provide the desired performance

  4. High Resolution Energetic X-ray Imager (HREXI)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grindlay, Jonathan

    We propose to design and build the first imaging hard X-ray detector system that incorporates 3D stacking of closely packed detector readouts in finely-spaced imaging arrays with their required data processing and control electronics. In virtually all imaging astronomical detectors, detector readout is done with flex connectors or connections that are not vertical but rather horizontal , requiring loss of focal plane area. For high resolution pixel detectors needed for high speed event-based X-ray imaging, from low energy applications (CMOS) with focusing X-ray telescopes, to hard X-ray applications with pixelated CZT for large area coded aperture telescopes, this new detector development offers great promise. We propose to extend our previous and current APRA supported ProtoEXIST program that has developed the first large area imaging CZT detectors and demonstrated their astrophysical capabilities on two successful balloon flight to a next generation High Resolution Energetic X-ray Imager (HREXI), which would incorporate microvia technology for the first time to connect the readout ASIC on each CZT crystal directly to its control and data processing system. This 3-dimensional stacking of detector and readout/control system means that large area (>2m2) imaging detector planes for a High Resolution Wide-field hard X-ray telescope can be built with initially greatly reduced detector gaps and ultimately with no gaps. This increases detector area, efficiency, and simplicity of detector integration. Thus higher sensitivity wide-field imagers will be possible at lower cost. HREXI will enable a post-Swift NASA mission such as the EREXS concept proposed to PCOS to be conducted as a future MIDEX mission. This mission would conduct a high resolution (<2 arcmin) , broad band (5 200 keV) hard X-ray survey of black holes on all scales with ~10X higher sensitivity than Swift. In the current era of Time Domain Astrophysics, such a survey capability, in conjunction with a n

  5. All-passive pixel super-resolution of time-stretch imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Antony C. S.; Ng, Ho-Cheung; Bogaraju, Sharat C. V.; So, Hayden K. H.; Lam, Edmund Y.; Tsia, Kevin K.

    2017-03-01

    Based on image encoding in a serial-temporal format, optical time-stretch imaging entails a stringent requirement of state-of-the-art fast data acquisition unit in order to preserve high image resolution at an ultrahigh frame rate — hampering the widespread utilities of such technology. Here, we propose a pixel super-resolution (pixel-SR) technique tailored for time-stretch imaging that preserves pixel resolution at a relaxed sampling rate. It harnesses the subpixel shifts between image frames inherently introduced by asynchronous digital sampling of the continuous time-stretch imaging process. Precise pixel registration is thus accomplished without any active opto-mechanical subpixel-shift control or other additional hardware. Here, we present the experimental pixel-SR image reconstruction pipeline that restores high-resolution time-stretch images of microparticles and biological cells (phytoplankton) at a relaxed sampling rate (≈2-5 GSa/s)—more than four times lower than the originally required readout rate (20 GSa/s) — is thus effective for high-throughput label-free, morphology-based cellular classification down to single-cell precision. Upon integration with the high-throughput image processing technology, this pixel-SR time-stretch imaging technique represents a cost-effective and practical solution for large scale cell-based phenotypic screening in biomedical diagnosis and machine vision for quality control in manufacturing.

  6. Hybrid collimation for industrial gamma-ray imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Z.; Knoll, G. F.; Smith, L. E.; Wehe, D. K.

    1999-01-01

    Portable photon imaging devices with a broad energy range of sensitivity, adequate angular resolution and high efficiency are useful in applications such as environmental remediation and industrial surveys. The vast majority of past systems built for these applications have relied on mechanical collimation although a few have used electronic collimation. To our knowledge, no devices have been built that exploit the benefits of both mechanical and electronic collimation in the same system. The combination of a mechanically-collimated camera with an electronically-collimated camera offers both the high efficiency and good angular resolution typical in a mechanically-collimated camera for lower energies and the uncoupling of spatial resolution and efficiency provided by an electronically-collimated camera at higher energies

  7. Prospects for γ-ray imaging telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carter, J.N.; Dean, A.J.; Ramsden, D.

    1981-01-01

    Apart from the requirement for a new, high angular-resolution gamma-ray telescope for the more precise location of known COS-B gamma-ray sources, there is also a need for another instrument that can be used in a search for the gamma-ray emission from specific X-ray-emitting objects. If there is to be any hope of relating gamma ray emission to specific candidate X-ray objects, then an angular resolution of typically a few minutes of arc is required to resolve adjacent sources in crowded regions of the sky such as the galactic centre. Efforts to improve the angular resolution of track-chamber telescopes are compared. For energies close to 1 MeV telescopes have either used collimators to restrict the field of view or have made use of the kinematics of the Compton scattering process to determine the direction of the incident photon. The use of coded aperture techniques in high angular resolution X-ray astronomy telescopes is reviewed. A practical telescope for astronomy at high energies described by Carter is mentioned. At low energies an imaging telescope could be constructed by making use of position-sensitive detectors initially developed for use in medical physics. Such a telescope is outlined in general terms and its benefits and uses given. (U.K.)

  8. A subspace approach to high-resolution spectroscopic imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Fan; Liang, Zhi-Pei

    2014-04-01

    To accelerate spectroscopic imaging using sparse sampling of (k,t)-space and subspace (or low-rank) modeling to enable high-resolution metabolic imaging with good signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed method, called SPectroscopic Imaging by exploiting spatiospectral CorrElation, exploits a unique property known as partial separability of spectroscopic signals. This property indicates that high-dimensional spectroscopic signals reside in a very low-dimensional subspace and enables special data acquisition and image reconstruction strategies to be used to obtain high-resolution spatiospectral distributions with good signal-to-noise ratio. More specifically, a hybrid chemical shift imaging/echo-planar spectroscopic imaging pulse sequence is proposed for sparse sampling of (k,t)-space, and a low-rank model-based algorithm is proposed for subspace estimation and image reconstruction from sparse data with the capability to incorporate prior information and field inhomogeneity correction. The performance of the proposed method has been evaluated using both computer simulations and phantom studies, which produced very encouraging results. For two-dimensional spectroscopic imaging experiments on a metabolite phantom, a factor of 10 acceleration was achieved with a minimal loss in signal-to-noise ratio compared to the long chemical shift imaging experiments and with a significant gain in signal-to-noise ratio compared to the accelerated echo-planar spectroscopic imaging experiments. The proposed method, SPectroscopic Imaging by exploiting spatiospectral CorrElation, is able to significantly accelerate spectroscopic imaging experiments, making high-resolution metabolic imaging possible. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Super-Resolution Reconstruction of Remote Sensing Images Using Multifractal Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mao-Gui Hu

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Satellite remote sensing (RS is an important contributor to Earth observation, providing various kinds of imagery every day, but low spatial resolution remains a critical bottleneck in a lot of applications, restricting higher spatial resolution analysis (e.g., intraurban. In this study, a multifractal-based super-resolution reconstruction method is proposed to alleviate this problem. The multifractal characteristic is common in Nature. The self-similarity or self-affinity presented in the image is useful to estimate details at larger and smaller scales than the original. We first look for the presence of multifractal characteristics in the images. Then we estimate parameters of the information transfer function and noise of the low resolution image. Finally, a noise-free, spatial resolutionenhanced image is generated by a fractal coding-based denoising and downscaling method. The empirical case shows that the reconstructed super-resolution image performs well indetail enhancement. This method is not only useful for remote sensing in investigating Earth, but also for other images with multifractal characteristics.

  10. Subpicosecond time-resolution image converter the picochron

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butslov, M.M.; Fanchenko, S.D.; Chikin, R.V.

    The problem of X-band resonance ultra-high-speed electron image swept in image converters is considered. A time analysis image converter tube is described. It is provided with a circular image-sweeping system, the sweeping speed ranging from 1 up to 2 light velocities. The swept-image intensifier makes it possible to record every electron emerging from the input photocathode. The time analysis electrostatic lens provides an electronic field at the input photocathode, strong enough to obtain a high physical time resolution. The image sweeping system to be described enables one to have a 5.10 -13 s time resolution over on observation period as long as 5.10 -8 s. It requires no precise limiting with the process to observed. The picochron tube design is described together with some results of its testing in Nd-laser experiments. Transitories as short as 0.5-1psec have been detected in ultra-short laser radiation pulses

  11. Towards sub-{Angstrom} resolution through incoherent imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pennycook, S.J.; Chisholm, M.F. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Nellist, P.D. [Cavendish Lab., Cambridge, (United Kingdom)

    1997-04-01

    As first pointed out by Lord Rayleigh a century ago, incoherent imaging offers a substantial resolution enhancement compared to coherent imaging, together with freedom from phase contrast interference effects and contrast oscillations. In the STEM configuration, with a high angle annular detector to provide the transverse incoherence, the image also shows strong Z-contrast, sufficient in the case of a 300 kV STEM to image single Pt and Rh atoms on a {gamma}-alumina support. The annular detector provides complementarity to a bright field detector of the same size. For weakly scattering specimens, it shows greater contrast than the incoherent bright field image, and also facilitates EELS analysis at atomic resolution, using the Z-contrast image to locate the probe with sub-{angstrom} precision. The inner radius of the annular detector can be chosen to reduce the transverse coherence length to well below the spacings needed to resolve the object, a significant advantage compared to light microscopy.

  12. Magnetic Resonance Super-resolution Imaging Measurement with Dictionary-optimized Sparse Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Jun-Bao

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Magnetic Resonance Super-resolution Imaging Measurement (MRIM is an effective way of measuring materials. MRIM has wide applications in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, medical and material science, especially in medical diagnosis. It is feasible to improve the resolution of MR imaging through increasing radiation intensity, but the high radiation intensity and the longtime of magnetic field harm the human body. Thus, in the practical applications the resolution of hardware imaging reaches the limitation of resolution. Software-based super-resolution technology is effective to improve the resolution of image. This work proposes a framework of dictionary-optimized sparse learning based MR super-resolution method. The framework is to solve the problem of sample selection for dictionary learning of sparse reconstruction. The textural complexity-based image quality representation is proposed to choose the optimal samples for dictionary learning. Comprehensive experiments show that the dictionary-optimized sparse learning improves the performance of sparse representation.

  13. Super resolution reconstruction of infrared images based on classified dictionary learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Fei; Han, Pingli; Wang, Yi; Li, Xuan; Bai, Lu; Shao, Xiaopeng

    2018-05-01

    Infrared images always suffer from low-resolution problems resulting from limitations of imaging devices. An economical approach to combat this problem involves reconstructing high-resolution images by reasonable methods without updating devices. Inspired by compressed sensing theory, this study presents and demonstrates a Classified Dictionary Learning method to reconstruct high-resolution infrared images. It classifies features of the samples into several reasonable clusters and trained a dictionary pair for each cluster. The optimal pair of dictionaries is chosen for each image reconstruction and therefore, more satisfactory results is achieved without the increase in computational complexity and time cost. Experiments and results demonstrated that it is a viable method for infrared images reconstruction since it improves image resolution and recovers detailed information of targets.

  14. An Example-Based Super-Resolution Algorithm for Selfie Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jino Hans William

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A selfie is typically a self-portrait captured using the front camera of a smartphone. Most state-of-the-art smartphones are equipped with a high-resolution (HR rear camera and a low-resolution (LR front camera. As selfies are captured by front camera with limited pixel resolution, the fine details in it are explicitly missed. This paper aims to improve the resolution of selfies by exploiting the fine details in HR images captured by rear camera using an example-based super-resolution (SR algorithm. HR images captured by rear camera carry significant fine details and are used as an exemplar to train an optimal matrix-value regression (MVR operator. The MVR operator serves as an image-pair priori which learns the correspondence between the LR-HR patch-pairs and is effectively used to super-resolve LR selfie images. The proposed MVR algorithm avoids vectorization of image patch-pairs and preserves image-level information during both learning and recovering process. The proposed algorithm is evaluated for its efficiency and effectiveness both qualitatively and quantitatively with other state-of-the-art SR algorithms. The results validate that the proposed algorithm is efficient as it requires less than 3 seconds to super-resolve LR selfie and is effective as it preserves sharp details without introducing any counterfeit fine details.

  15. Power calculation of linear and angular incremental encoders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prokofev, Aleksandr V.; Timofeev, Aleksandr N.; Mednikov, Sergey V.; Sycheva, Elena A.

    2016-04-01

    Automation technology is constantly expanding its role in improving the efficiency of manufacturing and testing processes in all branches of industry. More than ever before, the mechanical movements of linear slides, rotary tables, robot arms, actuators, etc. are numerically controlled. Linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders measure mechanical motion and transmit the measured values back to the control unit. The capabilities of these systems are undergoing continual development in terms of their resolution, accuracy and reliability, their measuring ranges, and maximum speeds. This article discusses the method of power calculation of linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders, to find the optimum parameters for its components, such as light emitters, photo-detectors, linear and angular scales, optical components etc. It analyzes methods and devices that permit high resolutions in the order of 0.001 mm or 0.001°, as well as large measuring lengths of over 100 mm. In linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders optical beam is usually formulated by a condenser lens passes through the measuring unit changes its value depending on the movement of a scanning head or measuring raster. Past light beam is converting into an electrical signal by the photo-detecter's block for processing in the electrical block. Therefore, for calculating the energy source is a value of the desired value of the optical signal at the input of the photo-detecter's block, which reliably recorded and processed in the electronic unit of linear and angular incremental optoelectronic encoders. Automation technology is constantly expanding its role in improving the efficiency of manufacturing and testing processes in all branches of industry. More than ever before, the mechanical movements of linear slides, rotary tables, robot arms, actuators, etc. are numerically controlled. Linear and angular incremental photoelectric encoders measure mechanical motion and

  16. Classification of high resolution satellite images

    OpenAIRE

    Karlsson, Anders

    2003-01-01

    In this thesis the Support Vector Machine (SVM)is applied on classification of high resolution satellite images. Sveral different measures for classification, including texture mesasures, 1st order statistics, and simple contextual information were evaluated. Additionnally, the image was segmented, using an enhanced watershed method, in order to improve the classification accuracy.

  17. Planet Formation Imager (PFI) : science vision and key requirements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraus, S.; Monnier, J.D.; Ireland, M.J.; Duchene, G.; Espaillat, C.; Honig, S.; Juhasz, A.; Mordasini, C.; Olofsson, J.; Paladini, C.; Stassun, K.; Turner, N.; Vasisht, G.; Harries, T.J.; Bate, M.R.; Gonzalez, J-F.; Matter, A.; Zhu, Z.; Panic, O.; Regaly, Z.; Morbidelli, A.; Meru, F.; Wolf, S.; Ilee, J.; Berger, J-P.; Zhao, M.; Kral, Q.; Morlok, A.; Bonsor, A.; Ciardi, D.; Kane, S.R.; Kratter, K.; Laughlin, G.; Pepper, J.; Raymond, S.; Labadie, L.; Nelson, R.P.; Weigelt, G.; Brummelaar, ten T.; Pierens, A.; Oudmaijer, R.; Kley, W.; Pope, B.; Jensen, E.L.N.; Bayo, A.; Smith, M.; Boyajian, T.; Quiroga-Nunez, L.H.; Millan-Gabet, R.; Chiavassa, A.; Gallenne, A.; Reynolds, M.; Wit, de W-J.; Wittkowski, M.; Millour, F.; Gandhi, P.; Ramos, A. C.; Alonso, H. A.; Packham, C.; Kishimoto, M.; Tristram, K.R.W.; Pott, J.-U.; Surdej, J.; Buscher, D.; Haniff, C.; Lacour, S.; Petrov, R.; Ridgway, S.; Tuthill, P.; Belle, van G.; Armitage, P.; Baruteau, C.; Benisty, M.; Bitsch, B.; Paardekooper, S-J.; Pinte, C.; Masset, F.; Rosotti, G.P.

    2016-01-01

    The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) project aims to provide a strong scientific vision for ground-based optical astronomy beyond the upcoming generation of Extremely Large Telescopes. We make the case that a breakthrough in angular resolution imaging capabilities is required in order to unravel the

  18. Application of Super-Resolution Image Reconstruction to Digital Holography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Shuqun

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available We describe a new application of super-resolution image reconstruction to digital holography which is a technique for three-dimensional information recording and reconstruction. Digital holography has suffered from the low resolution of CCD sensors, which significantly limits the size of objects that can be recorded. The existing solution to this problem is to use optics to bandlimit the object to be recorded, which can cause the loss of details. Here super-resolution image reconstruction is proposed to be applied in enhancing the spatial resolution of digital holograms. By introducing a global camera translation before sampling, a high-resolution hologram can be reconstructed from a set of undersampled hologram images. This permits the recording of larger objects and reduces the distance between the object and the hologram. Practical results from real and simulated holograms are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique.

  19. Resolution of potential ambiguities through farside angular structure: Semiclassical analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fricke, S.H.; Brandan, M.E.; McVoy, K.W.

    1988-01-01

    The optical potential fits summarized in the preceding paper are subjected to a semiclassical analysis of the Ford-Wheeler--Knoll-Schaeffer type. The important broad dips in their farside cross sections, which are essential in greatly reducing potential ambiguities, are found (in partial agreement with a suggestion of Goldberg's) to be mainly weak ''Airy'' or rainbow minima, that serve to identify deeply penetrating trajectories. The semiclassical analysis also permits the identification and understanding of a new category of discrete and continuous potential ambiguities, and suggests the manner in which specific features of the angular distributions (such as spacings and depths of various angular minima) determine the Woods-Saxon parameters found by a chi-squared search

  20. Facial identification in very low-resolution images simulating prosthetic vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, M H; Kim, H S; Shin, J H; Park, K S

    2012-08-01

    Familiar facial identification is important to blind or visually impaired patients and can be achieved using a retinal prosthesis. Nevertheless, there are limitations in delivering the facial images with a resolution sufficient to distinguish facial features, such as eyes and nose, through multichannel electrode arrays used in current visual prostheses. This study verifies the feasibility of familiar facial identification under low-resolution prosthetic vision and proposes an edge-enhancement method to deliver more visual information that is of higher quality. We first generated a contrast-enhanced image and an edge image by applying the Sobel edge detector and blocked each of them by averaging. Then, we subtracted the blocked edge image from the blocked contrast-enhanced image and produced a pixelized image imitating an array of phosphenes. Before subtraction, every gray value of the edge images was weighted as 50% (mode 2), 75% (mode 3) and 100% (mode 4). In mode 1, the facial image was blocked and pixelized with no further processing. The most successful identification was achieved with mode 3 at every resolution in terms of identification index, which covers both accuracy and correct response time. We also found that the subjects recognized a distinctive face especially more accurately and faster than the other given facial images even under low-resolution prosthetic vision. Every subject could identify familiar faces even in very low-resolution images. And the proposed edge-enhancement method seemed to contribute to intermediate-stage visual prostheses.

  1. Super-resolution Microscopy in Plant Cell Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komis, George; Šamajová, Olga; Ovečka, Miroslav; Šamaj, Jozef

    2015-12-01

    Although the development of super-resolution microscopy methods dates back to 1994, relevant applications in plant cell imaging only started to emerge in 2010. Since then, the principal super-resolution methods, including structured-illumination microscopy (SIM), photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), and stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED), have been implemented in plant cell research. However, progress has been limited due to the challenging properties of plant material. Here we summarize the basic principles of existing super-resolution methods and provide examples of applications in plant science. The limitations imposed by the nature of plant material are reviewed and the potential for future applications in plant cell imaging is highlighted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Evaluation of Medium Spatial Resolution BRDF-Adjustment Techniques Using Multi-Angular SPOT4 (Take5 Acquisitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Claverie

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available High-resolution sensor Surface Reflectance (SR data are affected by surface anisotropy but are difficult to adjust because of the low temporal frequency of the acquisitions and the low angular sampling. This paper evaluates five high spatial resolution Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF adjustment techniques. The evaluation is based on the noise level of the SR Time Series (TS corrected to a normalized geometry (nadir view, 45° sun zenith angle extracted from the multi-angular acquisitions of SPOT4 over three study areas (one in Arizona, two in France during the five-month SPOT4 (Take5 experiment. Two uniform techniques (Cst, for Constant, and Av, for Average, relying on the Vermote–Justice–Bréon (VJB BRDF method, assume no variation in space of the BRDF shape. Two methods (VI-dis, for NDVI-based disaggregation and LC-dis, for Land-Cover based disaggregation are based on disaggregation of the MODIS-derived BRDF VJB parameters using vegetation index and land cover, respectively. The last technique (LUM, for Look-Up Map relies on the MCD43 MODIS BRDF products and a crop type data layer. The VI-dis technique produced the lowest level of noise corresponding to the most effective adjustment: reduction from directional to normalized SR TS noises by 40% and 50% on average, for red and near-infrared bands, respectively. The uniform techniques displayed very good results, suggesting that a simple and uniform BRDF-shape assumption is good enough to adjust the BRDF in such geometric configuration (the view zenith angle varies from nadir to 25°. The most complex techniques relying on land cover (LC-dis and LUM displayed contrasting results depending on the land cover.

  3. High-angular-resolution stellar imaging with occultations from the Cassini spacecraft - III. Mira

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Paul N.; Tuthill, Peter G.; Nicholson, Philip D.; Hedman, Matthew M.

    2016-04-01

    We present an analysis of spectral and spatial data of Mira obtained by the Cassini spacecraft, which not only observed the star's spectra over a broad range of near-infrared wavelengths, but was also able to obtain high-resolution spatial information by watching the star pass behind Saturn's rings. The observed spectral range of 1-5 microns reveals the stellar atmosphere in the crucial water-bands which are unavailable to terrestrial observers, and the simultaneous spatial sampling allows the origin of spectral features to be located in the stellar environment. Models are fitted to the data, revealing the spectral and spatial structure of molecular layers surrounding the star. High-resolution imagery is recovered revealing the layered and asymmetric nature of the stellar atmosphere. The observational data set is also used to confront the state-of-the-art cool opacity-sampling dynamic extended atmosphere models of Mira variables through a detailed spectral and spatial comparison, revealing in general a good agreement with some specific departures corresponding to particular spectral features.

  4. Super-resolution mapping using multi-viewing CHRIS/PROBA data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwivedi, Manish; Kumar, Vinay

    2016-04-01

    High-spatial resolution Remote Sensing (RS) data provides detailed information which ensures high-definition visual image analysis of earth surface features. These data sets also support improved information extraction capabilities at a fine scale. In order to improve the spatial resolution of coarser resolution RS data, the Super Resolution Reconstruction (SRR) technique has become widely acknowledged which focused on multi-angular image sequences. In this study multi-angle CHRIS/PROBA data of Kutch area is used for SR image reconstruction to enhance the spatial resolution from 18 m to 6m in the hope to obtain a better land cover classification. Various SR approaches like Projection onto Convex Sets (POCS), Robust, Iterative Back Projection (IBP), Non-Uniform Interpolation and Structure-Adaptive Normalized Convolution (SANC) chosen for this study. Subjective assessment through visual interpretation shows substantial improvement in land cover details. Quantitative measures including peak signal to noise ratio and structural similarity are used for the evaluation of the image quality. It was observed that SANC SR technique using Vandewalle algorithm for the low resolution image registration outperformed the other techniques. After that SVM based classifier is used for the classification of SRR and data resampled to 6m spatial resolution using bi-cubic interpolation. A comparative analysis is carried out between classified data of bicubic interpolated and SR derived images of CHRIS/PROBA and SR derived classified data have shown a significant improvement of 10-12% in the overall accuracy. The results demonstrated that SR methods is able to improve spatial detail of multi-angle images as well as the classification accuracy.

  5. Concept of dual-resolution light field imaging using an organic photoelectric conversion film for high-resolution light field photography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugimura, Daisuke; Kobayashi, Suguru; Hamamoto, Takayuki

    2017-11-01

    Light field imaging is an emerging technique that is employed to realize various applications such as multi-viewpoint imaging, focal-point changing, and depth estimation. In this paper, we propose a concept of a dual-resolution light field imaging system to synthesize super-resolved multi-viewpoint images. The key novelty of this study is the use of an organic photoelectric conversion film (OPCF), which is a device that converts spectra information of incoming light within a certain wavelength range into an electrical signal (pixel value), for light field imaging. In our imaging system, we place the OPCF having the green spectral sensitivity onto the micro-lens array of the conventional light field camera. The OPCF allows us to acquire the green spectra information only at the center viewpoint with the full resolution of the image sensor. In contrast, the optical system of the light field camera in our imaging system captures the other spectra information (red and blue) at multiple viewpoints (sub-aperture images) but with low resolution. Thus, our dual-resolution light field imaging system enables us to simultaneously capture information about the target scene at a high spatial resolution as well as the direction information of the incoming light. By exploiting these advantages of our imaging system, our proposed method enables the synthesis of full-resolution multi-viewpoint images. We perform experiments using synthetic images, and the results demonstrate that our method outperforms other previous methods.

  6. Real-Time Amplitude and Phase Imaging of Optically Opaque Objects by Combining Full-Field Off-Axis Terahertz Digital Holography with Angular Spectrum Reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagiwa, Masatomo; Ogawa, Takayuki; Minamikawa, Takeo; Abdelsalam, Dahi Ghareab; Okabe, Kyosuke; Tsurumachi, Noriaki; Mizutani, Yasuhiro; Iwata, Testuo; Yamamoto, Hirotsugu; Yasui, Takeshi

    2018-06-01

    Terahertz digital holography (THz-DH) has the potential to be used for non-destructive inspection of visibly opaque soft materials due to its good immunity to optical scattering and absorption. Although previous research on full-field off-axis THz-DH has usually been performed using Fresnel diffraction reconstruction, its minimum reconstruction distance occasionally prevents a sample from being placed near a THz imager to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in the hologram. In this article, we apply the angular spectrum method (ASM) for wavefront reconstruction in full-filed off-axis THz-DH because ASM is more accurate at short reconstruction distances. We demonstrate real-time phase imaging of a visibly opaque plastic sample with a phase resolution power of λ/49 at a frame rate of 3.5 Hz in addition to real-time amplitude imaging. We also perform digital focusing of the amplitude image for the same object with a depth selectivity of 447 μm. Furthermore, 3D imaging of visibly opaque silicon objects was achieved with a depth precision of 1.7 μm. The demonstrated results indicate the high potential of the proposed method for in-line or in-process non-destructive inspection of soft materials.

  7. Real-Time Amplitude and Phase Imaging of Optically Opaque Objects by Combining Full-Field Off-Axis Terahertz Digital Holography with Angular Spectrum Reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamagiwa, Masatomo; Ogawa, Takayuki; Minamikawa, Takeo; Abdelsalam, Dahi Ghareab; Okabe, Kyosuke; Tsurumachi, Noriaki; Mizutani, Yasuhiro; Iwata, Testuo; Yamamoto, Hirotsugu; Yasui, Takeshi

    2018-04-01

    Terahertz digital holography (THz-DH) has the potential to be used for non-destructive inspection of visibly opaque soft materials due to its good immunity to optical scattering and absorption. Although previous research on full-field off-axis THz-DH has usually been performed using Fresnel diffraction reconstruction, its minimum reconstruction distance occasionally prevents a sample from being placed near a THz imager to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in the hologram. In this article, we apply the angular spectrum method (ASM) for wavefront reconstruction in full-filed off-axis THz-DH because ASM is more accurate at short reconstruction distances. We demonstrate real-time phase imaging of a visibly opaque plastic sample with a phase resolution power of λ/49 at a frame rate of 3.5 Hz in addition to real-time amplitude imaging. We also perform digital focusing of the amplitude image for the same object with a depth selectivity of 447 μm. Furthermore, 3D imaging of visibly opaque silicon objects was achieved with a depth precision of 1.7 μm. The demonstrated results indicate the high potential of the proposed method for in-line or in-process non-destructive inspection of soft materials.

  8. High Angular Resolution Measurements of the Anisotropy of Reflectance of Sea Ice and Snow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goyens, C.; Marty, S.; Leymarie, E.; Antoine, D.; Babin, M.; Bélanger, S.

    2018-01-01

    We introduce a new method to determine the anisotropy of reflectance of sea ice and snow at spatial scales from 1 m2 to 80 m2 using a multispectral circular fish-eye radiance camera (CE600). The CE600 allows measuring radiance simultaneously in all directions of a hemisphere at a 1° angular resolution. The spectral characteristics of the reflectance and its dependency on illumination conditions obtained from the camera are compared to those obtained with a hyperspectral field spectroradiometer manufactured by Analytical Spectral Device, Inc. (ASD). Results confirm the potential of the CE600, with the suggested measurement setup and data processing, to measure commensurable sea ice and snow hemispherical-directional reflectance factor, HDRF, values. Compared to the ASD, the reflectance anisotropy measured with the CE600 provides much higher resolution in terms of directional reflectance (N = 16,020). The hyperangular resolution allows detecting features that were overlooked using the ASD due to its limited number of measurement angles (N = 25). This data set of HDRF further documents variations in the anisotropy of the reflectance of snow and ice with the geometry of observation and illumination conditions and its spectral and spatial scale dependency. Finally, in order to reproduce the hyperangular CE600 reflectance measurements over the entire 400-900 nm spectral range, a regression-based method is proposed to combine the ASD and CE600 measurements. Results confirm that both instruments may be used in synergy to construct a hyperangular and hyperspectral snow and ice reflectance anisotropy data set.

  9. Image resolution influence on determination of resin injection rock mass

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Weixing; Hakami, Eva

    2006-01-01

    In the context of nuclear waste repositories, an important approach to understanding brittle rock mass behavior to integrate new and powerful observational and numerical methods with multi-functional 3-D imaging and visualization techniques. Since 1994, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) have identified the need for a better understanding of radionuclide transport and retention processes in fractured rock. As a cooperation project between Sweden and China, we sampled a number of rock specimens for analyze rock fracture network by optical image technique. The samples are resin injected, in which way; opened fractures can be seen clearly by means of UV (Ultraviolet) light illumination. In the study period, we used different optical focuses to obtain the images from the same samples; we found that Image resolution influences on porosity determination of resin injected rock mass. This paper presents and discusses the six issues based on our research results: (1) Fracture porosity increases as camera focus distance decreases; (2) Porosity increases as illumination increases in resin injected fracture images; (3) To roughly estimate the porosity, the low resolution image can be used; (4) To collect more details of fracture information, the high resolution image is needed; (5) The resolution of image should be determined based on the aim of fracture analysis; (6) To acquire high resolution image, constructing a special illumination (standard) box maybe helpful to avoid light reflection and diffusion.

  10. Multichannel system for angular distribution measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burjan, V.; Kroha, V.; Putz, K.

    A description is given of the individual blocks of the spectrometric apparatus used for measuring the angular distribution of particle spectra and excitation functions of (d,p) reactions at an electrostatic accelerator and the U-120 M cyclotron, both operating at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences at Rez. Main attention was devoted to attaining maximum energy resolution at a high measurement efficiency, this by installing 8 independent spectrometric chains allowing simultaneous measurement of angular distribution in 8 points of the beam. The semiconductor detectors were cooled to -40 degC to -60 degC, which significantly reduced the level of inherent detector noise. An energy resolution of 13 keV was attained using Tesla detectors at a particle energy of 11 MeV. A brief review of data processing and software is given. (B.S.)

  11. Fundamental limits to imaging resolution for focused ion beams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orloff, J.; Swanson, L.W.; Utlaut, M.

    1996-01-01

    This article investigates the limitations on the formation of focused ion beam images from secondary electrons. We use the notion of the information content of an image to account for the effects of resolution, contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio and show that there is a competition between the rate at which small features are sputtered away by the primary beam and the rate of collection of secondary electrons. We find that for small features, sputtering is the limit to imaging resolution, and that for extended small features (e.g., layered structures), rearrangement, redeposition, and differential sputtering rates may limit the resolution in some cases. copyright 1996 American Vacuum Society

  12. Speckle correlation resolution enhancement of wide-field fluorescence imaging (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yilmaz, Hasan

    2016-03-01

    Structured illumination enables high-resolution fluorescence imaging of nanostructures [1]. We demonstrate a new high-resolution fluorescence imaging method that uses a scattering layer with a high-index substrate as a solid immersion lens [2]. Random scattering of coherent light enables a speckle pattern with a very fine structure that illuminates the fluorescent nanospheres on the back surface of the high-index substrate. The speckle pattern is raster-scanned over the fluorescent nanospheres using a speckle correlation effect known as the optical memory effect. A series of standard-resolution fluorescence images per each speckle pattern displacement are recorded by an electron-multiplying CCD camera using a commercial microscope objective. We have developed a new phase-retrieval algorithm to reconstruct a high-resolution, wide-field image from several standard-resolution wide-field images. We have introduced phase information of Fourier components of standard-resolution images as a new constraint in our algorithm which discards ambiguities therefore ensures convergence to a unique solution. We demonstrate two-dimensional fluorescence images of a collection of nanospheres with a deconvolved Abbe resolution of 116 nm and a field of view of 10 µm × 10 µm. Our method is robust against optical aberrations and stage drifts, therefore excellent for imaging nanostructures under ambient conditions. [1] M. G. L. Gustafsson, J. Microsc. 198, 82-87 (2000). [2] H. Yilmaz, E. G. van Putten, J. Bertolotti, A. Lagendijk, W. L. Vos, and A. P. Mosk, Optica 2, 424-429 (2015).

  13. Effects of Resolution, Range, and Image Contrast on Target Acquisition Performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hollands, Justin G; Terhaar, Phil; Pavlovic, Nada J

    2018-05-01

    We sought to determine the joint influence of resolution, target range, and image contrast on the detection and identification of targets in simulated naturalistic scenes. Resolution requirements for target acquisition have been developed based on threshold values obtained using imaging systems, when target range was fixed, and image characteristics were determined by the system. Subsequent work has examined the influence of factors like target range and image contrast on target acquisition. We varied the resolution and contrast of static images in two experiments. Participants (soldiers) decided whether a human target was located in the scene (detection task) or whether a target was friendly or hostile (identification task). Target range was also varied (50-400 m). In Experiment 1, 30 participants saw color images with a single target exemplar. In Experiment 2, another 30 participants saw monochrome images containing different target exemplars. The effects of target range and image contrast were qualitatively different above and below 6 pixels per meter of target for both tasks in both experiments. Target detection and identification performance were a joint function of image resolution, range, and contrast for both color and monochrome images. The beneficial effects of increasing resolution for target acquisition performance are greater for closer (larger) targets.

  14. Subspace-Based Holistic Registration for Low-Resolution Facial Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boom BJ

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Subspace-based holistic registration is introduced as an alternative to landmark-based face registration, which has a poor performance on low-resolution images, as obtained in camera surveillance applications. The proposed registration method finds the alignment by maximizing the similarity score between a probe and a gallery image. We use a novel probabilistic framework for both user-independent as well as user-specific face registration. The similarity is calculated using the probability that the face image is correctly aligned in a face subspace, but additionally we take the probability into account that the face is misaligned based on the residual error in the dimensions perpendicular to the face subspace. We perform extensive experiments on the FRGCv2 database to evaluate the impact that the face registration methods have on face recognition. Subspace-based holistic registration on low-resolution images can improve face recognition in comparison with landmark-based registration on high-resolution images. The performance of the tested face recognition methods after subspace-based holistic registration on a low-resolution version of the FRGC database is similar to that after manual registration.

  15. Angular glint effects generation for false naval target verisimility requirements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kostis, Theodoros G; Galanis, Konstantinos G; Katsikas, Sokratis K

    2009-01-01

    A stimulating problem in the generation of coherent countermeasures for high range resolution radar systems is the inclusion of angular glint effects in the preparation of the false target mask. Since angular glint is representative of extended naval targets, this inclusion increases the credibility factor of the decoy playback signal at the adversary radar-operator station. In this paper, the ability of an interferometric inverse synthetic aperture radar (InISAR) simulator to provide a proof of concept towards the clarification of this challenging task is ascertained. The solution consists of three novel vector representations of the generated data, which are proven to behave according to the laws of physics governing the glint phenomenon. The first depiction is the angular glint injection at the target which is followed by the representation of the wavefront distortion at the radar. A value-added time procession integration of the target in pure roll motion provides an expected by ISAR theory side-view image of the naval extended false target. The effectiveness of the proposed approach through verification and validation of the results by using the method of pictorial evidence is established. A final argument is raised on the usage of this software tool for actual obfuscation and deception actions for air defence at sea applications

  16. Multisensor Super Resolution Using Directionally-Adaptive Regularization for UAV Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Wonseok; Yu, Soohwan; Ko, Seungyong; Paik, Joonki

    2015-05-22

    In various unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging applications, the multisensor super-resolution (SR) technique has become a chronic problem and attracted increasing attention. Multisensor SR algorithms utilize multispectral low-resolution (LR) images to make a higher resolution (HR) image to improve the performance of the UAV imaging system. The primary objective of the paper is to develop a multisensor SR method based on the existing multispectral imaging framework instead of using additional sensors. In order to restore image details without noise amplification or unnatural post-processing artifacts, this paper presents an improved regularized SR algorithm by combining the directionally-adaptive constraints and multiscale non-local means (NLM) filter. As a result, the proposed method can overcome the physical limitation of multispectral sensors by estimating the color HR image from a set of multispectral LR images using intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) image fusion. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides better SR results than existing state-of-the-art SR methods in the sense of objective measures.

  17. Effect of exposure time and image resolution on fractal dimension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    An, Byung Mo; Heo, Min Suk; Lee, Seung Pyo; Lee, Sam Sun; Choi, Soon Chul; Park, Tae Won; Kim, Jong Dae

    2002-01-01

    To evaluate the effect of exposure time and image resolution on fractal dimension calculations for determining the optimal range of these two variances. Thirty-one radiographs of the mandibular angle area of sixteen human dry mandibles were taken at different exposure times (0.01, 0.08, 0.16, 0.25, 0.40, 0.64, and 0.80 s). Each radiograph was digitized at 1200 dpi, 8 bit, 256 gray level using a film scanner. We selected an Region of Interest (ROI) that corresponded to the same region as in each radiograph, but the resolution of ROI was degraded to 1000, 800, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, and 100 dpi. The fractal dimension was calculated by using the tile-counting method for each image, and the calculated values were then compared statistically. As the exposure time and the image resolution increased, the mean value of the fractal dimension decreased, except the case where exposure time was set at 0.01 seconds (alpha = 0.05). The exposure time and image resolution affected the fractal dimension by interaction (p<0.001). When the exposure time was set to either 0.64 seconds or 0.80 seconds, the resulting fractal dimensions were lower, irrespective of image resolution, than at shorter exposure times (alpha = 0.05). The optimal range for exposure time and resolution was determined to be 0.08-0.40 seconds and from 400-1000 dpi, respectively. Adequate exposure time and image resolution is essential for acquiring the fractal dimension using tile-counting method for evaluation of the mandible.

  18. Measurement of the Energy-Dependent Angular Response of the ARES Detector System and Application to Aerial Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Tenzing H. Y.; Quiter, Brian J.; Maltz, Jonathan S.; Bandstra, Mark S.; Haefner, Andrew; Eikmeier, Nicole; Wagner, Eric; Luke, Tanushree; Malchow, Russell; McCall, Karen

    2017-07-01

    The Airborne Radiological Enhanced-sensor System (ARES) includes a prototype helicopter-borne CsI(Na) detector array that has been developed as part of the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Advanced Technology Demonstration. The detector system geometry comprises two pairs of 23-detector arrays designed to function as active masks, providing additional angular resolution of measured gamma rays in the roll dimension. Experimental measurements, using five radioisotopes (137Cs, 60Co, 241Am, 131I, and 99mTc), were performed to map the detector response in both roll and pitch dimensions. This paper describes the acquisition and analysis of these characterization measurements, calculation of the angular response of the ARES system, and how this response function is used to improve aerial detection and localization of radiological and nuclear threat sources.

  19. Direct Imaging of Transient Fano Resonances in N_{2} Using Time-, Energy-, and Angular-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckstein, Martin; Yang, Chung-Hsin; Frassetto, Fabio; Poletto, Luca; Sansone, Giuseppe; Vrakking, Marc J J; Kornilov, Oleg

    2016-04-22

    Autoionizing Rydberg states of molecular N_{2} are studied using time-, energy-, and angular-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. A femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulse with a photon energy of 17.5 eV excites the resonance and a subsequent IR pulse ionizes the molecule before the autoionization takes place. The angular-resolved photoelectron spectra depend on pump-probe time delay and allow for the distinguishing of two electronic states contributing to the resonance. The lifetime of one of the contributions is determined to be 14±1  fs, while the lifetime of the other appears to be significantly shorter than the time resolution of the experiment. These observations suggest that the Rydberg states in this energy region are influenced by the effect of interference stabilization and merge into a complex resonance.

  20. Effects of scanning resolution and digital image magnification on photostimulable phosphor imaging system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, Takashi; Inagaki, Masafumi; Asai, Hideomi; Koyama, Atsushi; Kashima, Isamu

    2000-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of changes in scanning resolution and digital magnification on the image quality and diagnostic ability of the photostimulable phosphor imaging system. Using a photostimulable phosphor imaging system, images of a human adult dried mandible phantom embedded in a 25 mm-thick epoxy resin block were made. The latent images on the photostimulable phosphor imaging plate were scanned using four different pixel sizes as follows: 25 μm x 25 μm, 50 μm x 50 μm, 100 μm x 100 μm and 200 μm x 200 μm. A primary image was produced for each pixel size. These images were also digitally magnified at powers of 2, 4 and 8 times. The gradient range, brightness and contrast of each image were adjusted to optimum levels on a cathode ray tube display, and hard copies were produced with a writing pixel size of 60 μm x 60 μm. The granularity, sharpness and anatomical diagnostic ability of the images were assessed subjectively by eight dentists. Increasing the scanning resolution tended to generally improve image quality and diagnostic ability. Visual image quality was maintained up to a pixel size of 50 μm, and diagnostic ability was maintained up to a pixel size of 100 μm. Digital image magnification degraded image quality, and more than 2-times magnification degraded diagnostic ability. Under the present experimental conditions, increasing the scanning resolution did not always lead to an improvement in image quality or diagnostic ability, and digital image magnification degraded image quality and diagnostic ability. (author)

  1. Lensless high-resolution photoacoustic imaging scanner for in vivo skin imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ida, Taiichiro; Iwazaki, Hideaki; Omuro, Toshiyuki; Kawaguchi, Yasushi; Tsunoi, Yasuyuki; Kawauchi, Satoko; Sato, Shunichi

    2018-02-01

    We previously launched a high-resolution photoacoustic (PA) imaging scanner based on a unique lensless design for in vivo skin imaging. The design, imaging algorithm and characteristics of the system are described in this paper. Neither an optical lens nor an acoustic lens is used in the system. In the imaging head, four sensor elements are arranged quadrilaterally, and by checking the phase differences for PA waves detected with these four sensors, a set of PA signals only originating from a chromophore located on the sensor center axis is extracted for constructing an image. A phantom study using a carbon fiber showed a depth-independent horizontal resolution of 84.0 ± 3.5 µm, and the scan direction-dependent variation of PA signals was about ± 20%. We then performed imaging of vasculature phantoms: patterns of red ink lines with widths of 100 or 200 μm formed in an acrylic block co-polymer. The patterns were visualized with high contrast, showing the capability for imaging arterioles and venues in the skin. Vasculatures in rat burn models and healthy human skin were also clearly visualized in vivo.

  2. ANGULAR MOMENTUM ACQUISITION IN GALAXY HALOS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, Kyle R.; Brooks, Alyson M.; Bullock, James S.; Maller, Ariyeh H.; Diemand, Jürg; Wadsley, James; Moustakas, Leonidas A.

    2013-01-01

    We use high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to study the angular momentum acquisition of gaseous halos around Milky-Way-sized galaxies. We find that cold mode accreted gas enters a galaxy halo with ∼70% more specific angular momentum than dark matter averaged over cosmic time (though with a very large dispersion). In fact, we find that all matter has a higher spin parameter when measured at accretion than when averaged over the entire halo lifetime, and is well characterized by λ ∼ 0.1, at accretion. Combined with the fact that cold flow gas spends a relatively short time (1-2 dynamical times) in the halo before sinking to the center, this naturally explains why cold flow halo gas has a specific angular momentum much higher than that of the halo and often forms ''cold flow disks.'' We demonstrate that the higher angular momentum of cold flow gas is related to the fact that it tends to be accreted along filaments.

  3. An integral design strategy combining optical system and image processing to obtain high resolution images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jiaoyang; Wang, Lin; Yang, Ying; Gong, Rui; Shao, Xiaopeng; Liang, Chao; Xu, Jun

    2016-05-01

    In this paper, an integral design that combines optical system with image processing is introduced to obtain high resolution images, and the performance is evaluated and demonstrated. Traditional imaging methods often separate the two technical procedures of optical system design and imaging processing, resulting in the failures in efficient cooperation between the optical and digital elements. Therefore, an innovative approach is presented to combine the merit function during optical design together with the constraint conditions of image processing algorithms. Specifically, an optical imaging system with low resolution is designed to collect the image signals which are indispensable for imaging processing, while the ultimate goal is to obtain high resolution images from the final system. In order to optimize the global performance, the optimization function of ZEMAX software is utilized and the number of optimization cycles is controlled. Then Wiener filter algorithm is adopted to process the image simulation and mean squared error (MSE) is taken as evaluation criterion. The results show that, although the optical figures of merit for the optical imaging systems is not the best, it can provide image signals that are more suitable for image processing. In conclusion. The integral design of optical system and image processing can search out the overall optimal solution which is missed by the traditional design methods. Especially, when designing some complex optical system, this integral design strategy has obvious advantages to simplify structure and reduce cost, as well as to gain high resolution images simultaneously, which has a promising perspective of industrial application.

  4. Automated angular and translational tomographic alignment and application to phase-contrast imaging

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cunha Ramos, Tiago Joao; Jørgensen, Jakob Sauer; Andreasen, Jens Wenzel

    2017-01-01

    X-ray computerized tomography (CT) is a 3D imaging technique that makes use of x-ray illumination and image reconstruction techniques to reproduce the internal cross-sections of a sample. Tomographic projection data usually require an initial relative alignment or knowledge of the exact object po...... improvement in the reconstruction resolution. A MATLAB implementation is made publicly available and will allow robust analysis of large volumes of phase-contrast tomography data.......X-ray computerized tomography (CT) is a 3D imaging technique that makes use of x-ray illumination and image reconstruction techniques to reproduce the internal cross-sections of a sample. Tomographic projection data usually require an initial relative alignment or knowledge of the exact object...... reconstruction artifacts and limit the attained resolution in the final tomographic reconstruction. Alignment algorithms that require manual interaction impede data analysis with ever-increasing data acquisition rates, supplied by more brilliant sources. We present in this paper an iterative reconstruction...

  5. A lower limit to the accretion disc radius in the low-luminosity AGN NGC 1052 derived from high-angular resolution data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reb, Lennart; Fernández-Ontiveros, Juan A.; Prieto, M. Almudena; Dolag, Klaus

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the central sub-arcsec region of the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus NGC 1052, using a high-angular resolution dataset that covers 10 orders of magnitude in frequency. This allows us to infer the continuum emission within the innermost ˜17 pc around the black hole to be of non-thermal, synchrotron origin and to set a limit to the maximum contribution of a standard accretion disc. Assuming the canonical 10 per cent mass-light conversion efficiency for the standard accretion disc, its inferred accretion power would be too low by one order of magnitude to account for the observed continuum luminosity. We thus introduce a truncated accretion disc and derive a truncation radius to mass-light conversion efficiency relation, which we use to reconcile the inferred accretion power with the continuum luminosity. As a result we find that a truncated disc providing the necessary accretion power must be truncated at rtr ≳ 26 rg, consistent with the inner radius derived from the observations of the Fe Kα line in the X-ray spectrum of this nucleus. This is the first time to derive a limit on the truncation radius of the accretion disc from high-angular resolution data only.

  6. Large-Scale Multi-Resolution Representations for Accurate Interactive Image and Volume Operations

    KAUST Repository

    Sicat, Ronell B.

    2015-11-25

    The resolutions of acquired image and volume data are ever increasing. However, the resolutions of commodity display devices remain limited. This leads to an increasing gap between data and display resolutions. To bridge this gap, the standard approach is to employ output-sensitive operations on multi-resolution data representations. Output-sensitive operations facilitate interactive applications since their required computations are proportional only to the size of the data that is visible, i.e., the output, and not the full size of the input. Multi-resolution representations, such as image mipmaps, and volume octrees, are crucial in providing these operations direct access to any subset of the data at any resolution corresponding to the output. Despite its widespread use, this standard approach has some shortcomings in three important application areas, namely non-linear image operations, multi-resolution volume rendering, and large-scale image exploration. This dissertation presents new multi-resolution representations for large-scale images and volumes that address these shortcomings. Standard multi-resolution representations require low-pass pre-filtering for anti- aliasing. However, linear pre-filters do not commute with non-linear operations. This becomes problematic when applying non-linear operations directly to any coarse resolution levels in standard representations. Particularly, this leads to inaccurate output when applying non-linear image operations, e.g., color mapping and detail-aware filters, to multi-resolution images. Similarly, in multi-resolution volume rendering, this leads to inconsistency artifacts which manifest as erroneous differences in rendering outputs across resolution levels. To address these issues, we introduce the sparse pdf maps and sparse pdf volumes representations for large-scale images and volumes, respectively. These representations sparsely encode continuous probability density functions (pdfs) of multi-resolution pixel

  7. Through-the-wall high-resolution imaging of a human and experimental characterization of the transmission of wall materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilsson, S.; Jänis, A.; Gustafsson, M.; Kjellgren, J.; Sume, Ain

    2008-10-01

    This paper describes the research efforts made at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) concerning through-the-wall imaging radar, as well as fundamental characterization of various wall materials. These activities are a part of two FOI-projects concerning security sensors in the aspects of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) and Homeland Defence. Through-the-wall high resolution imaging of a human between 28-40 GHz has been performed at FOI. The UWB radar that was used is normally a member of the instrumentation of the FOI outdoor RCS test range Lilla Gåra. The armed test person was standing behind different kinds of walls. The radar images were generated by stepping the turntable in azimuth and elevation. The angular resolution in the near-field was improved by refocusing the parabolic antennas, which in combination with the large bandwidth (12 GHz) gave extremely high resolution radar images. A 3D visualization of the person even exposed the handgun tucked into one hip pocket. A qualitative comparison between the experimental results and simulation results (physical optics-based method) will also be presented. The second part of this paper describes results from activities at FOI concerning material characterization in the 2-110 GHz region. The transmission of building, packing and clothing materials has been experimentally determined. The wide-band measurements in free space were carried out with a scalar network analyzer. In this paper results from these characterizations will be presented. Furthermore, an experimental investigation will be reported of how the transmission properties for some moisted materials change as a function of water content and frequency. We will also show experimental results of how the transmission properties of a pine panel are affected when the surface is coated with a thin surface layer of water.

  8. Droplet Image Super Resolution Based on Sparse Representation and Kernel Regression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Zhenzhen; Luo, Xinghong; Yu, Qiang

    2018-05-01

    Microgravity and containerless conditions, which are produced via electrostatic levitation combined with a drop tube, are important when studying the intrinsic properties of new metastable materials. Generally, temperature and image sensors can be used to measure the changes of sample temperature, morphology and volume. Then, the specific heat, surface tension, viscosity changes and sample density can be obtained. Considering that the falling speed of the material sample droplet is approximately 31.3 m/s when it reaches the bottom of a 50-meter-high drop tube, a high-speed camera with a collection rate of up to 106 frames/s is required to image the falling droplet. However, at the high-speed mode, very few pixels, approximately 48-120, will be obtained in each exposure time, which results in low image quality. Super-resolution image reconstruction is an algorithm that provides finer details than the sampling grid of a given imaging device by increasing the number of pixels per unit area in the image. In this work, we demonstrate the application of single image-resolution reconstruction in the microgravity and electrostatic levitation for the first time. Here, using the image super-resolution method based on sparse representation, a low-resolution droplet image can be reconstructed. Employed Yang's related dictionary model, high- and low-resolution image patches were combined with dictionary training, and high- and low-resolution-related dictionaries were obtained. The online double-sparse dictionary training algorithm was used in the study of related dictionaries and overcome the shortcomings of the traditional training algorithm with small image patch. During the stage of image reconstruction, the algorithm of kernel regression is added, which effectively overcomes the shortcomings of the Yang image's edge blurs.

  9. Smartphone microendoscopy for high resolution fluorescence imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiangqian Hong

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available High resolution optical endoscopes are increasingly used in diagnosis of various medical conditions of internal organs, such as the cervix and gastrointestinal (GI tracts, but they are too expensive for use in resource-poor settings. On the other hand, smartphones with high resolution cameras and Internet access have become more affordable, enabling them to diffuse into most rural areas and developing countries in the past decade. In this paper, we describe a smartphone microendoscope that can take fluorescence images with a spatial resolution of 3.1 μm. Images collected from ex vivo, in vitro and in vivo samples using the device are also presented. The compact and cost-effective smartphone microendoscope may be envisaged as a powerful tool for detecting pre-cancerous lesions of internal organs in low and middle-income countries (LMICs.

  10. Single-Image Super-Resolution Based on Rational Fractal Interpolation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yunfeng; Fan, Qinglan; Bao, Fangxun; Liu, Yifang; Zhang, Caiming

    2018-08-01

    This paper presents a novel single-image super-resolution (SR) procedure, which upscales a given low-resolution (LR) input image to a high-resolution image while preserving the textural and structural information. First, we construct a new type of bivariate rational fractal interpolation model and investigate its analytical properties. This model has different forms of expression with various values of the scaling factors and shape parameters; thus, it can be employed to better describe image features than current interpolation schemes. Furthermore, this model combines the advantages of rational interpolation and fractal interpolation, and its effectiveness is validated through theoretical analysis. Second, we develop a single-image SR algorithm based on the proposed model. The LR input image is divided into texture and non-texture regions, and then, the image is interpolated according to the characteristics of the local structure. Specifically, in the texture region, the scaling factor calculation is the critical step. We present a method to accurately calculate scaling factors based on local fractal analysis. Extensive experiments and comparisons with the other state-of-the-art methods show that our algorithm achieves competitive performance, with finer details and sharper edges.

  11. High-resolution x-ray imaging using a structured scintillator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hormozan, Yashar, E-mail: hormozan@kth.se; Sychugov, Ilya; Linnros, Jan [Materials and Nano Physics, School of Information and Communication Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 229, Kista, Stockholm SE-16440 (Sweden)

    2016-02-15

    Purpose: In this study, the authors introduce a new generation of finely structured scintillators with a very high spatial resolution (a few micrometers) compared to conventional scintillators, yet maintaining a thick absorbing layer for improved detectivity. Methods: Their concept is based on a 2D array of high aspect ratio pores which are fabricated by ICP etching, with spacings (pitches) of a few micrometers, on silicon and oxidation of the pore walls. The pores were subsequently filled by melting of powdered CsI(Tl), as the scintillating agent. In order to couple the secondary emitted photons of the back of the scintillator array to a CCD device, having a larger pixel size than the pore pitch, an open optical microscope with adjustable magnification was designed and implemented. By imaging a sharp edge, the authors were able to calculate the modulation transfer function (MTF) of this finely structured scintillator. Results: The x-ray images of individually resolved pores suggest that they have been almost uniformly filled, and the MTF measurements show the feasibility of a few microns spatial resolution imaging, as set by the scintillator pore size. Compared to existing techniques utilizing CsI needles as a structured scintillator, their results imply an almost sevenfold improvement in resolution. Finally, high resolution images, taken by their detector, are presented. Conclusions: The presented work successfully shows the functionality of their detector concept for high resolution imaging and further fabrication developments are most likely to result in higher quantum efficiencies.

  12. Special issue on high-resolution optical imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Peter J. S.; Davis, Ilan; Galbraith, Catherine G.; Stemmer, Andreas

    2013-09-01

    The pace of development in the field of advanced microscopy is truly breath-taking, and is leading to major breakthroughs in our understanding of molecular machines and cell function. This special issue of Journal of Optics draws attention to a number of interesting approaches, ranging from fluorescence and imaging of unlabelled cells, to computational methods, all of which are describing the ever increasing detail of the dynamic behaviour of molecules in the living cell. This is a field which traditionally, and currently, demonstrates a marvellous interplay between the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology, where apparent boundaries to resolution dissolve and living cells are viewed in ever more clarity. It is fertile ground for those interested in optics and non-conventional imaging to contribute high-impact outputs in the fields of cell biology and biomedicine. The series of articles presented here has been selected to demonstrate this interdisciplinarity and to encourage all those with a background in the physical sciences to 'dip their toes' into the exciting and dynamic discoveries surrounding cell function. Although single molecule super-resolution microscopy is commercially available, specimen preparation and interpretation of single molecule data remain a major challenge for scientists wanting to adopt the techniques. The paper by Allen and Davidson [1] provides a much needed detailed introduction to the practical aspects of stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, including sample preparation, image acquisition and image analysis, as well as a brief description of the different variants of single molecule localization microscopy. Since super-resolution microscopy is no longer restricted to three-dimensional imaging of fixed samples, the review by Fiolka [2] is a timely introduction to techniques that have been successfully applied to four-dimensional live cell super-resolution microscopy. The combination of multiple high-resolution techniques

  13. Refinement procedure for the image alignment in high-resolution electron tomography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houben, L; Bar Sadan, M

    2011-01-01

    High-resolution electron tomography from a tilt series of transmission electron microscopy images requires an accurate image alignment procedure in order to maximise the resolution of the tomogram. This is the case in particular for ultra-high resolution where even very small misalignments between individual images can dramatically reduce the fidelity of the resultant reconstruction. A tomographic-reconstruction based and marker-free method is proposed, which uses an iterative optimisation of the tomogram resolution. The method utilises a search algorithm that maximises the contrast in tomogram sub-volumes. Unlike conventional cross-correlation analysis it provides the required correlation over a large tilt angle separation and guarantees a consistent alignment of images for the full range of object tilt angles. An assessment based on experimental reconstructions shows that the marker-free procedure is competitive to the reference of marker-based procedures at lower resolution and yields sub-pixel accuracy even for simulated high-resolution data. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Effects of whispering gallery mode in microsphere super-resolution imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Song; Deng, Yongbo; Zhou, Wenchao; Yu, Muxin; Urbach, H. P.; Wu, Yihui

    2017-09-01

    Whispering Gallery modes have been presented in microscopic glass spheres or toruses with many applications. In this paper, the possible approaches to enhance the imaging resolution by Whispering Gallery modes are discussed, including evanescent waves coupling, transformed and illustration by Whispering Gallery modes. It shows that the high-order scattering modes play the dominant role in the reconstructed virtual image when the Whispering Gallery modes exist. Furthermore, we find that the high image resolution of electric dipoles can be achieved, when the out-of-phase components exist from the illustration of Whispering Gallery modes. Those results of our simulation could contribute to the knowledge of microsphere-assisted super-resolution imaging and its potential applications.

  15. Sparse PDF maps for non-linear multi-resolution image operations

    KAUST Repository

    Hadwiger, Markus

    2012-11-01

    We introduce a new type of multi-resolution image pyramid for high-resolution images called sparse pdf maps (sPDF-maps). Each pyramid level consists of a sparse encoding of continuous probability density functions (pdfs) of pixel neighborhoods in the original image. The encoded pdfs enable the accurate computation of non-linear image operations directly in any pyramid level with proper pre-filtering for anti-aliasing, without accessing higher or lower resolutions. The sparsity of sPDF-maps makes them feasible for gigapixel images, while enabling direct evaluation of a variety of non-linear operators from the same representation. We illustrate this versatility for antialiased color mapping, O(n) local Laplacian filters, smoothed local histogram filters (e.g., median or mode filters), and bilateral filters. © 2012 ACM.

  16. Microbeam high-resolution diffraction and x-ray standing wave methods applied to semiconductor structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazimirov, A; Bilderback, D H; Huang, R; Sirenko, A; Ougazzaden, A

    2004-01-01

    A new approach to conditioning x-ray microbeams for high angular resolution x-ray diffraction and scattering techniques is introduced. We combined focusing optics (one-bounce imaging capillary) and post-focusing collimating optics (miniature Si(004) channel-cut crystal) to generate an x-ray microbeam with a size of 10 μm and ultimate angular resolution of 14 μrad. The microbeam was used to analyse the strain in sub-micron thick InGaAsP epitaxial layers grown on an InP(100) substrate by the selective area growth technique in narrow openings between the oxide stripes. For the structures for which the diffraction peaks from the substrate and the film overlap, the x-ray standing wave technique was applied for precise measurements of the strain with a Δd/d resolution of better than 10 -4 . (rapid communication)

  17. Super-resolution convolutional neural network for the improvement of the image quality of magnified images in chest radiographs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umehara, Kensuke; Ota, Junko; Ishimaru, Naoki; Ohno, Shunsuke; Okamoto, Kentaro; Suzuki, Takanori; Shirai, Naoki; Ishida, Takayuki

    2017-02-01

    Single image super-resolution (SR) method can generate a high-resolution (HR) image from a low-resolution (LR) image by enhancing image resolution. In medical imaging, HR images are expected to have a potential to provide a more accurate diagnosis with the practical application of HR displays. In recent years, the super-resolution convolutional neural network (SRCNN), which is one of the state-of-the-art deep learning based SR methods, has proposed in computer vision. In this study, we applied and evaluated the SRCNN scheme to improve the image quality of magnified images in chest radiographs. For evaluation, a total of 247 chest X-rays were sampled from the JSRT database. The 247 chest X-rays were divided into 93 training cases with non-nodules and 152 test cases with lung nodules. The SRCNN was trained using the training dataset. With the trained SRCNN, the HR image was reconstructed from the LR one. We compared the image quality of the SRCNN and conventional image interpolation methods, nearest neighbor, bilinear and bicubic interpolations. For quantitative evaluation, we measured two image quality metrics, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). In the SRCNN scheme, PSNR and SSIM were significantly higher than those of three interpolation methods (pmethods without any obvious artifacts. These preliminary results indicate that the SRCNN scheme significantly outperforms conventional interpolation algorithms for enhancing image resolution and that the use of the SRCNN can yield substantial improvement of the image quality of magnified images in chest radiographs.

  18. High-resolution investigations of edge effects in neutron imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strobl, M.; Kardjilov, N.; Hilger, A.; Kuehne, G.; Frei, G.; Manke, I.

    2009-01-01

    Edge enhancement is the main effect measured by the so-called inline or propagation-based neutron phase contrast imaging method. The effect has originally been explained by diffraction, and high spatial coherence has been claimed to be a necessary precondition. However, edge enhancement has also been found in conventional imaging with high resolution. In such cases the effects can produce artefacts and hinder quantification. In this letter the edge effects at cylindrical shaped samples and long straight edges have been studied in detail. The enhancement can be explained by refraction and total reflection. Using high-resolution imaging, where spatial resolutions better than 50 μm could be achieved, refraction and total reflection peaks - similar to diffraction patterns - could be separated and distinguished.

  19. Three-dimensional super-resolution imaging for fluorescence emission difference microscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    You, Shangting; Kuang, Cuifang, E-mail: cfkuang@zju.edu.cn; Li, Shuai; Liu, Xu; Ding, Zhihua [State key laboratory of modern optical instrumentations, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)

    2015-08-15

    We propose a method theoretically to break the diffraction limit and to improve the resolution in all three dimensions for fluorescence emission difference microscopy. We produce two kinds of hollow focal spot by phase modulation. By incoherent superposition, these two kinds of focal spot yield a 3D hollow focal spot. The optimal proportion of these two kinds of spot is given in the paper. By employing 3D hollow focal spot, super-resolution image can be yielded by means of fluorescence emission difference microscopy, with resolution enhanced both laterally and axially. According to computation result, size of point spread function of three-dimensional super-resolution imaging is reduced by about 40% in all three spatial directions with respect to confocal imaging.

  20. Effects of display resolution and size on primary diagnosis of chest images using a high-resolution electronic work station

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuhrman, C.R.; Cooperstein, L.A.; Herron, J.; Good, W.F.; Good, B.; Gur, D.; Maitz, G.; Tabor, E.; Hoy, R.J.

    1987-01-01

    To evaluate the acceptability of electronically displayed planar images, the authors have a high-resolution work station. This system utilizes a high-resolution film digitizer (100-micro resolution) interfaced to a mainframe computer and two high-resolution (2,048 X 2,048) display devices (Azuray). In a clinically simulated multiobserver blind study (19 cases and five observers) a prodetermined series of reading sessions is stored on magnetic disk and is transferred to the displays while the preceding set of images is being reviewed. Images can be linearly processed on the fly into 2,000 X 2,000 full resolution, 1,000 X 1,000 minified display, or 1,000 X 1,000 interpolated for full-size display. Results of the study indicate that radiologists accept but do not like significant minification (more than X2), and they rate 2,000 X 2,000 images as having better diagnostic quality than 1,000 X 1,000 images

  1. Subwavelength resolution Fourier ptychography with hemispherical digital condensers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, An; Zhang, Yan; Li, Maosen; Zhou, Meiling; Lei, Ming; Yao, Baoli

    2018-02-01

    Fourier ptychography (FP) is a promising computational imaging technique that overcomes the physical space-bandwidth product (SBP) limit of a conventional microscope by applying angular diversity illuminations. However, to date, the effective imaging numerical aperture (NA) achievable with a commercial LED board is still limited to the range of 0.3-0.7 with a 4×/0.1NA objective due to the constraint of planar geometry with weak illumination brightness and attenuated signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Thus the highest achievable half-pitch resolution is usually constrained between 500-1000 nm, which cannot fulfill some needs of high-resolution biomedical imaging applications. Although it is possible to improve the resolution by using a higher magnification objective with larger NA instead of enlarging the illumination NA, the SBP is suppressed to some extent, making the FP technique less appealing, since the reduction of field-of-view (FOV) is much larger than the improvement of resolution in this FP platform. Herein, in this paper, we initially present a subwavelength resolution Fourier ptychography (SRFP) platform with a hemispherical digital condenser to provide high-angle programmable plane-wave illuminations of 0.95NA, attaining a 4×/0.1NA objective with the final effective imaging performance of 1.05NA at a half-pitch resolution of 244 nm with a wavelength of 465 nm across a wide FOV of 14.60 mm2 , corresponding to an SBP of 245 megapixels. Our work provides an essential step of FP towards high-NA imaging applications without scarfing the FOV, making it more practical and appealing.

  2. Lateral resolution of eddy current imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hassan, W.; Blodgett, M.; Nagy, P.B.

    2002-01-01

    Analytical, finite element simulation, and experimental methods were used to investigate the lateral resolution of eddy current microscopy. It was found that the lateral resolution of eddy current imaging is ultimately limited by the probe-coil geometry and dimensions, but both the inspection frequency and the phase angle can be used to optimize the resolution, to some degree, at the expense of sensitivity. Electric anisotropy exhibited by noncubic crystallographic classes of materials such as titanium alloys can play a very similar role in electromagnetic materials characterization of polycrystalline metals to that of elastic anisotropy in ultrasonic materials characterization. Our results demonstrate that eddy current microscopy can be enhanced via a high-resolution, small diameter probe-coil which delivers a unique materials characterization tool well suited for the evaluation of Ti alloys

  3. Focal Plane Detectors for the Advanced Gamma-Ray Imaging System (AGIS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, R. G.; Byrum, K.; Drake, G.; Funk, S.; Otte, N.; Smith, A.; Tajima, H.; Williams, D.

    2009-05-01

    The Advanced Gamma-Ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a concept for the next generation observatory in ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It is being designed to achieve a significant improvement in sensitivity compared to current Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) Arrays. One of the main requirements in order that AGIS fulfills this goal will be to achieve higher angular resolution than current IACTs. Simulations show that a substantial improvement in angular resolution may be achieved if the pixel size is reduced to 0.05 deg, i.e. two to three times smaller than for current IACT cameras. Here we present results from testing of alternatives being considered for AGIS, including both silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMTs).

  4. Using Adobe Acrobat to create high-resolution line art images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woo, Hyoun Sik; Lee, Jeong Min

    2009-08-01

    The purpose of this article is to introduce a method for using Adobe Acrobat to make high-resolution and high-quality line art images. High-resolution and high-quality line art images for radiology journal submission can be generated using Adobe Acrobat as a steppingstone, and the customized PDF conversion settings can be used for converting hybrid images, including both bitmap and vector components.

  5. Automated, feature-based image alignment for high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry of large biological samples

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broersen, A.; Liere, van R.; Altelaar, A.F.M.; Heeren, R.M.A.; McDonnell, L.A.

    2008-01-01

    High-resolution imaging mass spectrometry of large biological samples is the goal of several research groups. In mosaic imaging, the most common method, the large sample is divided into a mosaic of small areas that are then analyzed with high resolution. Here we present an automated alignment

  6. Heuristic optimization in penumbral image for high resolution reconstructed image

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azuma, R.; Nozaki, S.; Fujioka, S.; Chen, Y. W.; Namihira, Y.

    2010-01-01

    Penumbral imaging is a technique which uses the fact that spatial information can be recovered from the shadow or penumbra that an unknown source casts through a simple large circular aperture. The size of the penumbral image on the detector can be mathematically determined as its aperture size, object size, and magnification. Conventional reconstruction methods are very sensitive to noise. On the other hand, the heuristic reconstruction method is very tolerant of noise. However, the aperture size influences the accuracy and resolution of the reconstructed image. In this article, we propose the optimization of the aperture size for the neutron penumbral imaging.

  7. Learning-based compressed sensing for infrared image super resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yao; Sui, Xiubao; Chen, Qian; Wu, Shaochi

    2016-05-01

    This paper presents an infrared image super-resolution method based on compressed sensing (CS). First, the reconstruction model under the CS framework is established and a Toeplitz matrix is selected as the sensing matrix. Compared with traditional learning-based methods, the proposed method uses a set of sub-dictionaries instead of two coupled dictionaries to recover high resolution (HR) images. And Toeplitz sensing matrix allows the proposed method time-efficient. Second, all training samples are divided into several feature spaces by using the proposed adaptive k-means classification method, which is more accurate than the standard k-means method. On the basis of this approach, a complex nonlinear mapping from the HR space to low resolution (LR) space can be converted into several compact linear mappings. Finally, the relationships between HR and LR image patches can be obtained by multi-sub-dictionaries and HR infrared images are reconstructed by the input LR images and multi-sub-dictionaries. The experimental results show that the proposed method is quantitatively and qualitatively more effective than other state-of-the-art methods.

  8. Reconstructed Image Spatial Resolution of Multiple Coincidences Compton Imager

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreyev, Andriy; Sitek, Arkadiusz; Celler, Anna

    2010-02-01

    We study the multiple coincidences Compton imager (MCCI) which is based on a simultaneous acquisition of several photons emitted in cascade from a single nuclear decay. Theoretically, this technique should provide a major improvement in localization of a single radioactive source as compared to a standard Compton camera. In this work, we investigated the performance and limitations of MCCI using Monte Carlo computer simulations. Spatial resolutions of the reconstructed point source have been studied as a function of the MCCI parameters, including geometrical dimensions and detector characteristics such as materials, energy and spatial resolutions.

  9. Higher-order tensors in diffusion imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schultz, T.; Fuster, A.; Ghosh, A.; Deriche, R.; Florack, L.M.J.; Lim, L.H.; Westin, C.-F.; Vilanova, A.; Burgeth, B.

    2014-01-01

    Diffusion imaging is a noninvasive tool for probing the microstructure of fibrous nerve and muscle tissue. Higher-order tensors provide a powerful mathematical language to model and analyze the large and complex data that is generated by its modern variants such as High Angular Resolution Diffusion

  10. Super-Resolution Enhancement From Multiple Overlapping Images: A Fractional Area Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michaels, Joshua A.

    With the availability of large quantities of relatively low-resolution data from several decades of space borne imaging, methods of creating an accurate, higher-resolution image from the multiple lower-resolution images (i.e. super-resolution), have been developed almost since such imagery has been around. The fractional-area super-resolution technique developed in this thesis has never before been documented. Satellite orbits, like Landsat, have a quantifiable variation, which means each image is not centered on the exact same spot more than once and the overlapping information from these multiple images may be used for super-resolution enhancement. By splitting a single initial pixel into many smaller, desired pixels, a relationship can be created between them using the ratio of the area within the initial pixel. The ideal goal for this technique is to obtain smaller pixels with exact values and no error, yielding a better potential result than those methods that yield interpolated pixel values with consequential loss of spatial resolution. A Fortran 95 program was developed to perform all calculations associated with the fractional-area super-resolution technique. The fractional areas are calculated using traditional trigonometry and coordinate geometry and Linear Algebra Package (LAPACK; Anderson et al., 1999) is used to solve for the higher-resolution pixel values. In order to demonstrate proof-of-concept, a synthetic dataset was created using the intrinsic Fortran random number generator and Adobe Illustrator CS4 (for geometry). To test the real-life application, digital pictures from a Sony DSC-S600 digital point-and-shoot camera with a tripod were taken of a large US geological map under fluorescent lighting. While the fractional-area super-resolution technique works in perfect synthetic conditions, it did not successfully produce a reasonable or consistent solution in the digital photograph enhancement test. The prohibitive amount of processing time (up to

  11. A comparison of multi-spectral, multi-angular, and multi-temporal remote sensing datasets for fractional shrub canopy mapping in Arctic Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selkowitz, D.J.

    2010-01-01

    Shrub cover appears to be increasing across many areas of the Arctic tundra biome, and increasing shrub cover in the Arctic has the potential to significantly impact global carbon budgets and the global climate system. For most of the Arctic, however, there is no existing baseline inventory of shrub canopy cover, as existing maps of Arctic vegetation provide little information about the density of shrub cover at a moderate spatial resolution across the region. Remotely-sensed fractional shrub canopy maps can provide this necessary baseline inventory of shrub cover. In this study, we compare the accuracy of fractional shrub canopy (> 0.5 m tall) maps derived from multi-spectral, multi-angular, and multi-temporal datasets from Landsat imagery at 30 m spatial resolution, Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) imagery at 250 m and 500 m spatial resolution, and MultiAngle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) imagery at 275 m spatial resolution for a 1067 km2 study area in Arctic Alaska. The study area is centered at 69 ??N, ranges in elevation from 130 to 770 m, is composed primarily of rolling topography with gentle slopes less than 10??, and is free of glaciers and perennial snow cover. Shrubs > 0.5 m in height cover 2.9% of the study area and are primarily confined to patches associated with specific landscape features. Reference fractional shrub canopy is determined from in situ shrub canopy measurements and a high spatial resolution IKONOS image swath. Regression tree models are constructed to estimate fractional canopy cover at 250 m using different combinations of input data from Landsat, MODIS, and MISR. Results indicate that multi-spectral data provide substantially more accurate estimates of fractional shrub canopy cover than multi-angular or multi-temporal data. Higher spatial resolution datasets also provide more accurate estimates of fractional shrub canopy cover (aggregated to moderate spatial resolutions) than lower spatial resolution datasets

  12. Resolution limits for wave equation imaging

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Yunsong

    2014-08-01

    Formulas are derived for the resolution limits of migration-data kernels associated with diving waves, primary reflections, diffractions, and multiple reflections. They are applicable to images formed by reverse time migration (RTM), least squares migration (LSM), and full waveform inversion (FWI), and suggest a multiscale approach to iterative FWI based on multiscale physics. That is, at the early stages of the inversion, events that only generate low-wavenumber resolution should be emphasized relative to the high-wavenumber resolution events. As the iterations proceed, the higher-resolution events should be emphasized. The formulas also suggest that inverting multiples can provide some low- and intermediate-wavenumber components of the velocity model not available in the primaries. Finally, diffractions can provide twice or better the resolution than specular reflections for comparable depths of the reflector and diffractor. The width of the diffraction-transmission wavepath is approximately λ at the diffractor location for the diffraction-transmission wavepath. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

  13. Refinement procedure for the image alignment in high-resolution electron tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houben, L.; Bar Sadan, M.

    2011-01-01

    High-resolution electron tomography from a tilt series of transmission electron microscopy images requires an accurate image alignment procedure in order to maximise the resolution of the tomogram. This is the case in particular for ultra-high resolution where even very small misalignments between individual images can dramatically reduce the fidelity of the resultant reconstruction. A tomographic-reconstruction based and marker-free method is proposed, which uses an iterative optimisation of the tomogram resolution. The method utilises a search algorithm that maximises the contrast in tomogram sub-volumes. Unlike conventional cross-correlation analysis it provides the required correlation over a large tilt angle separation and guarantees a consistent alignment of images for the full range of object tilt angles. An assessment based on experimental reconstructions shows that the marker-free procedure is competitive to the reference of marker-based procedures at lower resolution and yields sub-pixel accuracy even for simulated high-resolution data. -- Highlights: → Alignment procedure for electron tomography based on iterative tomogram contrast optimisation. → Marker-free, independent of object, little user interaction. → Accuracy competitive with fiducial marker methods and suited for high-resolution tomography.

  14. Using texture analysis to improve per-pixel classification of very high resolution images for mapping plastic greenhouses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agüera, Francisco; Aguilar, Fernando J.; Aguilar, Manuel A.

    The area occupied by plastic-covered greenhouses has undergone rapid growth in recent years, currently exceeding 500,000 ha worldwide. Due to the vast amount of input (water, fertilisers, fuel, etc.) required, and output of different agricultural wastes (vegetable, plastic, chemical, etc.), the environmental impact of this type of production system can be serious if not accompanied by sound and sustainable territorial planning. For this, the new generation of satellites which provide very high resolution imagery, such as QuickBird and IKONOS can be useful. In this study, one QuickBird and one IKONOS satellite image have been used to cover the same area under similar circumstances. The aim of this work was an exhaustive comparison of QuickBird vs. IKONOS images in land-cover detection. In terms of plastic greenhouse mapping, comparative tests were designed and implemented, each with separate objectives. Firstly, the Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) was applied using five different approaches combining R, G, B, NIR, and panchromatic bands. The combinations of the bands used, significantly influenced some of the indexes used to classify quality in this work. Furthermore, the quality classification of the QuickBird image was higher in all cases than that of the IKONOS image. Secondly, texture features derived from the panchromatic images at different window sizes and with different grey levels were added as a fifth band to the R, G, B, NIR images to carry out the MLC. The inclusion of texture information in the classification did not improve the classification quality. For classifications with texture information, the best accuracies were found in both images for mean and angular second moment texture parameters. The optimum window size in these texture parameters was 3×3 for IK images, while for QB images it depended on the quality index studied, but the optimum window size was around 15×15. With regard to the grey level, the optimum was 128. Thus, the

  15. Detecting breast microcalcifications using super-resolution and wave-equation ultrasound imaging: a numerical phantom study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Lianjie [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Simonetti, Francesco [IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON; Huthwaite, Peter [IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON; Rosenberg, Robert [UNM; Williamson, Michael [UNM

    2010-01-01

    Ultrasound image resolution and quality need to be significantly improved for breast microcalcification detection. Super-resolution imaging with the factorization method has recently been developed as a promising tool to break through the resolution limit of conventional imaging. In addition, wave-equation reflection imaging has become an effective method to reduce image speckles by properly handling ultrasound scattering/diffraction from breast heterogeneities during image reconstruction. We explore the capabilities of a novel super-resolution ultrasound imaging method and a wave-equation reflection imaging scheme for detecting breast microcalcifications. Super-resolution imaging uses the singular value decomposition and a factorization scheme to achieve an image resolution that is not possible for conventional ultrasound imaging. Wave-equation reflection imaging employs a solution to the acoustic-wave equation in heterogeneous media to backpropagate ultrasound scattering/diffraction waves to scatters and form images of heterogeneities. We construct numerical breast phantoms using in vivo breast images, and use a finite-difference wave-equation scheme to generate ultrasound data scattered from inclusions that mimic microcalcifications. We demonstrate that microcalcifications can be detected at full spatial resolution using the super-resolution ultrasound imaging and wave-equation reflection imaging methods.

  16. Features of atomic images reconstructed from photoelectron, Auger electron, and internal detector electron holography using SPEA-MEM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matsushita, Tomohiro, E-mail: matusita@spring8.or.jp [Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, SPring-8, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5198 (Japan); Matsui, Fumihiko [Graduate School of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192 (Japan)

    2014-08-15

    Highlights: • We develop a 3D atomic image reconstruction algorithm for photoelectron, Auger electron, and internal detector holography. • We examine the shapes of the atomic images reconstructed by using a developed kernel function. • We examine refraction effect at surface, limitation effect of the hologram data, energy resolution effect, and angular resolution effect. • These discussions indicate the experimental requirements to obtain the clear 3D atomic image. - Abstract: Three-dimensional atomic images can be reconstructed from photoelectron, Auger electron, and internal detector electron holograms using a scattering pattern extraction algorithm using the maximum entropy method (SPEA-MEM) that utilizes an integral transform. An integral kernel function for the integral transform is the key to clear atomic image reconstruction. We composed the kernel function using a scattering pattern function and estimated its ability. Image distortion caused by multiple scattering was also evaluated. Four types of Auger electron wave functions were investigated, and the effect of these wave function types was estimated. In addition, we addressed refraction at the surface, the effects of data limitation, and energy and angular resolutions.

  17. Simbol-X: Imaging The Hard X-ray Sky with Unprecedented Spatial Resolution and Sensitivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tagliaferri, Gianpiero; Simbol-X Joint Scientific Mission Group

    2009-01-01

    Simbol-X is a hard X-ray mission, with imaging capability in the 0.5-80 keV range. It is based on a collaboration between the French and Italian space agencies with participation of German laboratories. The launch is foreseen in late 2014. It relies on a formation flight concept, with two satellites carrying one the mirror module and the other one the focal plane detectors. The mirrors will have a 20 m focal length, while the two focal plane detectors will be put one on top of the other one. This combination will provide over two orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity in the hard X-ray range with respect to non-focusing techniques. The Simbol-X revolutionary instrumental capabilities will allow us to elucidate outstanding questions in high energy astrophysics such as those related to black-holes accretion physics and census, and to particle acceleration mechanisms. We will give an overall description of the mission characteristics, performances and scientific objectives.

  18. DESIGN OF DYADIC-INTEGER-COEFFICIENTS BASED BI-ORTHOGONAL WAVELET FILTERS FOR IMAGE SUPER-RESOLUTION USING SUB-PIXEL IMAGE REGISTRATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P.B. Chopade

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents image super-resolution scheme based on sub-pixel image registration by the design of a specific class of dyadic-integer-coefficient based wavelet filters derived from the construction of a half-band polynomial. First, the integer-coefficient based half-band polynomial is designed by the splitting approach. Next, this designed half-band polynomial is factorized and assigned specific number of vanishing moments and roots to obtain the dyadic-integer coefficients low-pass analysis and synthesis filters. The possibility of these dyadic-integer coefficients based wavelet filters is explored in the field of image super-resolution using sub-pixel image registration. The two-resolution frames are registered at a specific shift from one another to restore the resolution lost by CCD array of camera. The discrete wavelet transform (DWT obtained from the designed coefficients is applied on these two low-resolution images to obtain the high resolution image. The developed approach is validated by comparing the quality metrics with existing filter banks.

  19. High resolution metric imaging payload

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delclaud, Y.

    2017-11-01

    Alcatel Space Industries has become Europe's leader in the field of high and very high resolution optical payloads, in the frame work of earth observation system able to provide military government with metric images from space. This leadership allowed ALCATEL to propose for the export market, within a French collaboration frame, a complete space based system for metric observation.

  20. Natural-pose hand detection in low-resolution images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nyan Bo Bo1

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Robust real-time hand detection and tracking in video sequences would enable many applications in areas as diverse ashuman-computer interaction, robotics, security and surveillance, and sign language-based systems. In this paper, we introducea new approach for detecting human hands that works on single, cluttered, low-resolution images. Our prototype system, whichis primarily intended for security applications in which the images are noisy and low-resolution, is able to detect hands as smallas 2424 pixels in cluttered scenes. The system uses grayscale appearance information to classify image sub-windows as eithercontaining or not containing a human hand very rapidly at the cost of a high false positive rate. To improve on the false positiverate of the main classifier without affecting its detection rate, we introduce a post-processor system that utilizes the geometricproperties of skin color blobs. When we test our detector on a test image set containing 106 hands, 92 of those hands aredetected (86.8% detection rate, with an average false positive rate of 1.19 false positive detections per image. The rapiddetection speed, the high detection rate of 86.8%, and the low false positive rate together ensure that our system is useable asthe main detector in a diverse variety of applications requiring robust hand detection and tracking in low-resolution, clutteredscenes.

  1. An alternative approach to determine attainable resolution directly from HREM images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, A.; Turner, S.; Van Aert, S.; Van Dyck, D.

    2013-01-01

    The concept of resolution in high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) is the power to resolve neighboring atoms. Since the resolution is related to the width of the point spread function of the microscope, it could in principle be determined from the image of a point object. However, in electron microscopy there are no ideal point objects. The smallest object is an individual atom. If the width of an atom is much smaller than the resolution of the microscope, this atom can still be considered as a point object. As the resolution of the microscope enters the sub-Å regime, information about the microscope is strongly entangled with the information about the atoms in HREM images. Therefore, we need to find an alternative method to determine the resolution in an object-independent way. In this work we propose to use the image wave of a crystalline object in zone axis orientation. Under this condition, the atoms of a column act as small lenses so that the electron beam channels through the atom column periodically. Because of this focusing, the image wave of the column can be much more peaked than the constituting atoms and can thus be a much more sensitive probe to measure the resolution. Our approach is to use the peakiness of the image wave of the atom column to determine the resolution. We will show that the resolution can be directly linked to the total curvature of the atom column wave. Moreover, we can then directly obtain the resolution of the microscope given that the contribution from the object is known, which is related to the bounding energy of the atom. The method is applied on an experimental CaTiO 3 image wave. - Highlights: • Microscope aberrations and the size of the atoms influence the resolution at the sub-Å level. • In channeling condition the atoms in the column focus the electron beam into a narrow peak at the exit face. • The shape of this peak can be used to determine the resolution in an object independent way. • This results in a

  2. Stability of dislocation structures in copper towards stress relaxation investigated by high angular resolution 3D X-ray diffraction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Bo; Poulsen, Henning Friis; Lienert, Ulrich

    2009-01-01

    A 300 µm thick tensile specimen of OFHC copper is subjected to a tensile loading sequence and deformed to a maximal strain of 3.11%. Using the novel three-dimensional X-ray diffraction method High angular resolution 3DXRD', the evolution of the microstructure within a deeply embedded grain....... In contrast to the deformation stages, during each stress relaxation stage, number, size and orientation of subgrains are found to be constant, while a minor amount of clean-up of the microstructure is observed as narrowing of the radial X-ray diffraction line profile. The associated decrease in the width...

  3. Ultrahigh Resolution 3-Dimensional Imaging, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Southwest Sciences proposes to develop innovative instrumentation for the rapid, 3-dimensional imaging of biological tissues with cellular resolution. Our approach...

  4. High-Resolution Remote Sensing Image Building Extraction Based on Markov Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, W.; Yan, L.; Chang, Y.; Gong, L.

    2018-04-01

    With the increase of resolution, remote sensing images have the characteristics of increased information load, increased noise, more complex feature geometry and texture information, which makes the extraction of building information more difficult. To solve this problem, this paper designs a high resolution remote sensing image building extraction method based on Markov model. This method introduces Contourlet domain map clustering and Markov model, captures and enhances the contour and texture information of high-resolution remote sensing image features in multiple directions, and further designs the spectral feature index that can characterize "pseudo-buildings" in the building area. Through the multi-scale segmentation and extraction of image features, the fine extraction from the building area to the building is realized. Experiments show that this method can restrain the noise of high-resolution remote sensing images, reduce the interference of non-target ground texture information, and remove the shadow, vegetation and other pseudo-building information, compared with the traditional pixel-level image information extraction, better performance in building extraction precision, accuracy and completeness.

  5. High resolution Cerenkov light imaging of induced positron distribution in proton therapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamamoto, Seiichi, E-mail: s-yama@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp; Fujii, Kento; Morishita, Yuki; Okumura, Satoshi; Komori, Masataka [Radiological and Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Aichi 461-8673 (Japan); Toshito, Toshiyuki [Department of Proton Therapy Physics, Nagoya Proton Therapy Center, Nagoya City West Medical Center, Aichi 462-8508 (Japan)

    2014-11-01

    Purpose: In proton therapy, imaging of the positron distribution produced by fragmentation during or soon after proton irradiation is a useful method to monitor the proton range. Although positron emission tomography (PET) is typically used for this imaging, its spatial resolution is limited. Cerenkov light imaging is a new molecular imaging technology that detects the visible photons that are produced from high-speed electrons using a high sensitivity optical camera. Because its inherent spatial resolution is much higher than PET, the authors can measure more precise information of the proton-induced positron distribution with Cerenkov light imaging technology. For this purpose, they conducted Cerenkov light imaging of induced positron distribution in proton therapy. Methods: First, the authors evaluated the spatial resolution of our Cerenkov light imaging system with a {sup 22}Na point source for the actual imaging setup. Then the transparent acrylic phantoms (100 × 100 × 100 mm{sup 3}) were irradiated with two different proton energies using a spot scanning proton therapy system. Cerenkov light imaging of each phantom was conducted using a high sensitivity electron multiplied charge coupled device (EM-CCD) camera. Results: The Cerenkov light’s spatial resolution for the setup was 0.76 ± 0.6 mm FWHM. They obtained high resolution Cerenkov light images of the positron distributions in the phantoms for two different proton energies and made fused images of the reference images and the Cerenkov light images. The depths of the positron distribution in the phantoms from the Cerenkov light images were almost identical to the simulation results. The decay curves derived from the region-of-interests (ROIs) set on the Cerenkov light images revealed that Cerenkov light images can be used for estimating the half-life of the radionuclide components of positrons. Conclusions: High resolution Cerenkov light imaging of proton-induced positron distribution was possible. The

  6. High resolution Cerenkov light imaging of induced positron distribution in proton therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, Seiichi; Fujii, Kento; Morishita, Yuki; Okumura, Satoshi; Komori, Masataka; Toshito, Toshiyuki

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: In proton therapy, imaging of the positron distribution produced by fragmentation during or soon after proton irradiation is a useful method to monitor the proton range. Although positron emission tomography (PET) is typically used for this imaging, its spatial resolution is limited. Cerenkov light imaging is a new molecular imaging technology that detects the visible photons that are produced from high-speed electrons using a high sensitivity optical camera. Because its inherent spatial resolution is much higher than PET, the authors can measure more precise information of the proton-induced positron distribution with Cerenkov light imaging technology. For this purpose, they conducted Cerenkov light imaging of induced positron distribution in proton therapy. Methods: First, the authors evaluated the spatial resolution of our Cerenkov light imaging system with a 22 Na point source for the actual imaging setup. Then the transparent acrylic phantoms (100 × 100 × 100 mm 3 ) were irradiated with two different proton energies using a spot scanning proton therapy system. Cerenkov light imaging of each phantom was conducted using a high sensitivity electron multiplied charge coupled device (EM-CCD) camera. Results: The Cerenkov light’s spatial resolution for the setup was 0.76 ± 0.6 mm FWHM. They obtained high resolution Cerenkov light images of the positron distributions in the phantoms for two different proton energies and made fused images of the reference images and the Cerenkov light images. The depths of the positron distribution in the phantoms from the Cerenkov light images were almost identical to the simulation results. The decay curves derived from the region-of-interests (ROIs) set on the Cerenkov light images revealed that Cerenkov light images can be used for estimating the half-life of the radionuclide components of positrons. Conclusions: High resolution Cerenkov light imaging of proton-induced positron distribution was possible. The authors

  7. Multiband super-resolution imaging of graded-index photonic crystal flat lens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Jianlan; Wang, Junzhong; Ge, Rui; Yan, Bei; Liu, Exian; Tan, Wei; Liu, Jianjun

    2018-05-01

    Multiband super-resolution imaging of point source is achieved by a graded-index photonic crystal flat lens. With the calculations of six bands in common photonic crystal (CPC) constructed with scatterers of different refractive indices, it can be found that the super-resolution imaging of point source can be realized by different physical mechanisms in three different bands. In the first band, the imaging of point source is based on far-field condition of spherical wave while in the second band, it is based on the negative effective refractive index and exhibiting higher imaging quality than that of the CPC. However, in the fifth band, the imaging of point source is mainly based on negative refraction of anisotropic equi-frequency surfaces. The novel method of employing different physical mechanisms to achieve multiband super-resolution imaging of point source is highly meaningful for the field of imaging.

  8. Super-resolution processing for pulsed neutron imaging system using a high-speed camera

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishizuka, Ken; Kai, Tetsuya; Shinohara, Takenao; Segawa, Mariko; Mochiki, Koichi

    2015-01-01

    Super-resolution and center-of-gravity processing improve the resolution of neutron-transmitted images. These processing methods calculate the center-of-gravity pixel or sub-pixel of the neutron point converted into light by a scintillator. The conventional neutron-transmitted image is acquired using a high-speed camera by integrating many frames when a transmitted image with one frame is not provided. It succeeds in acquiring the transmitted image and calculating a spectrum by integrating frames of the same energy. However, because a high frame rate is required for neutron resonance absorption imaging, the number of pixels of the transmitted image decreases, and the resolution decreases to the limit of the camera performance. Therefore, we attempt to improve the resolution by integrating the frames after applying super-resolution or center-of-gravity processing. The processed results indicate that center-of-gravity processing can be effective in pulsed-neutron imaging with a high-speed camera. In addition, the results show that super-resolution processing is effective indirectly. A project to develop a real-time image data processing system has begun, and this system will be used at J-PARC in JAEA. (author)

  9. Improving lateral resolution and image quality of optical coherence tomography by the multi-frame superresolution technique for 3D tissue imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Kai; Lu, Hui; Baig, Sarfaraz; Wang, Michael R

    2017-11-01

    The multi-frame superresolution technique is introduced to significantly improve the lateral resolution and image quality of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Using several sets of low resolution C-scan 3D images with lateral sub-spot-spacing shifts on different sets, the multi-frame superresolution processing of these sets at each depth layer reconstructs a higher resolution and quality lateral image. Layer by layer processing yields an overall high lateral resolution and quality 3D image. In theory, the superresolution processing including deconvolution can solve the diffraction limit, lateral scan density and background noise problems together. In experiment, the improved lateral resolution by ~3 times reaching 7.81 µm and 2.19 µm using sample arm optics of 0.015 and 0.05 numerical aperture respectively as well as doubling the image quality has been confirmed by imaging a known resolution test target. Improved lateral resolution on in vitro skin C-scan images has been demonstrated. For in vivo 3D SD-OCT imaging of human skin, fingerprint and retina layer, we used the multi-modal volume registration method to effectively estimate the lateral image shifts among different C-scans due to random minor unintended live body motion. Further processing of these images generated high lateral resolution 3D images as well as high quality B-scan images of these in vivo tissues.

  10. Linearized inversion frameworks toward high-resolution seismic imaging

    KAUST Repository

    Aldawood, Ali

    2016-09-01

    Seismic exploration utilizes controlled sources, which emit seismic waves that propagate through the earth subsurface and get reflected off subsurface interfaces and scatterers. The reflected and scattered waves are recorded by recording stations installed along the earth surface or down boreholes. Seismic imaging is a powerful tool to map these reflected and scattered energy back to their subsurface scattering or reflection points. Seismic imaging is conventionally based on the single-scattering assumption, where only energy that bounces once off a subsurface scatterer and recorded by a receiver is projected back to its subsurface position. The internally multiply scattered seismic energy is considered as unwanted noise and is usually suppressed or removed from the recorded data. Conventional seismic imaging techniques yield subsurface images that suffer from low spatial resolution, migration artifacts, and acquisition fingerprint due to the limited acquisition aperture, number of sources and receivers, and bandwidth of the source wavelet. Hydrocarbon traps are becoming more challenging and considerable reserves are trapped in stratigraphic and pinch-out traps, which require highly resolved seismic images to delineate them. This thesis focuses on developing and implementing new advanced cost-effective seismic imaging techniques aiming at enhancing the resolution of the migrated images by exploiting the sparseness of the subsurface reflectivity distribution and utilizing the multiples that are usually neglected when imaging seismic data. I first formulate the seismic imaging problem as a Basis pursuit denoise problem, which I solve using an L1-minimization algorithm to obtain the sparsest migrated image corresponding to the recorded data. Imaging multiples may illuminate subsurface zones, which are not easily illuminated by conventional seismic imaging using primary reflections only. I then develop an L2-norm (i.e. least-squares) inversion technique to image

  11. Image Super-Resolution Algorithm Based on an Improved Sparse Autoencoder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Detian Huang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the limitations of the resolution of the imaging system and the influence of scene changes and other factors, sometimes only low-resolution images can be acquired, which cannot satisfy the practical application’s requirements. To improve the quality of low-resolution images, a novel super-resolution algorithm based on an improved sparse autoencoder is proposed. Firstly, in the training set preprocessing stage, the high- and low-resolution image training sets are constructed, respectively, by using high-frequency information of the training samples as the characterization, and then the zero-phase component analysis whitening technique is utilized to decorrelate the formed joint training set to reduce its redundancy. Secondly, a constructed sparse regularization term is added to the cost function of the traditional sparse autoencoder to further strengthen the sparseness constraint on the hidden layer. Finally, in the dictionary learning stage, the improved sparse autoencoder is adopted to achieve unsupervised dictionary learning to improve the accuracy and stability of the dictionary. Experimental results validate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing algorithms both in terms of the subjective visual perception and the objective evaluation indices, including the peak signal-to-noise ratio and the structural similarity measure.

  12. 1024 matrix image reconstruction: usefulness in high resolution chest CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Sun Young; Chung, Myung Jin; Chong, Se Min; Sung, Yon Mi; Lee, Kyung Soo

    2006-01-01

    We tried to evaluate whether high resolution chest CT with a 1,024 matrix has a significant advantage in image quality compared to a 512 matrix. Each set of 512 and 1024 matrix high resolution chest CT scans with both 0.625 mm and 1.25 mm slice thickness were obtained from 26 patients. Seventy locations that contained twenty-four low density lesions without sharp boundary such as emphysema, and forty-six sharp linear densities such as linear fibrosis were selected; these were randomly displayed on a five mega pixel LCD monitor. All the images were masked for information concerning the matrix size and slice thickness. Two chest radiologists scored the image quality of each ar rowed lesion as follows: (1) undistinguishable, (2) poorly distinguishable, (3) fairly distinguishable, (4) well visible and (5) excellently visible. The scores were compared from the aspects of matrix size, slice thickness and the different observers by using ANOVA tests. The average and standard deviation of image quality were 3.09 (± .92) for the 0.625 mm x 512 matrix, 3.16 (± .84) for the 0.625 mm x 1024 matrix, 2.49 (± 1.02) for the 1.25 mm x 512 matrix, and 2.35 (± 1.02) for the 1.25 mm x 1024 matrix, respectively. The image quality on both matrices of the high resolution chest CT scans with a 0.625 mm slice thickness was significantly better than that on the 1.25 mm slice thickness (ρ < 0.001). However, the image quality on the 1024 matrix high resolution chest CT scans was not significantly different from that on the 512 matrix high resolution chest CT scans (ρ = 0.678). The interobserver variation between the two observers was not significant (ρ = 0.691). We think that 1024 matrix image reconstruction for high resolution chest CT may not be clinical useful

  13. High-resolution MR imaging of talar osteochondral lesions with new classification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Griffith, James Francis; Lau, Domily Ting Yi; Yeung, David Ka Wai [Prince of Wales Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Shatin, NT (China); Wong, Margaret Wan Nar [Prince of Wales Hospital, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Shatin (China)

    2012-04-15

    Retrospective review of high-resolution MR imaging features of talar dome osteochondral lesions and development of new classification system based on these features. Over the past 7 years, 70 osteochondral lesions of the talar dome from 70 patients (49 males, 21 females, mean age 42 years, range 15-62 years) underwent high-resolution MR imaging with a microscopy coil at 1.5 T. Sixty-one (87%) of 70 lesions were located on the medial central aspect and ten (13%) lesions were located on the lateral central aspect of the talar dome. Features evaluated included cartilage fracture, osteochondral junction separation, subchondral bone collapse, bone:bone separation, and marrow change. Based on these findings, a new five-part grading system was developed. Signal-to-noise characteristics of microscopy coil imaging at 1.5 T were compared to dedicated ankle coil imaging at 3 T. Microscopy coil imaging at 1.5 T yielded 20% better signal-to-noise characteristics than ankle coil imaging at 3 T. High-resolution MR revealed that osteochondral junction separation, due to focal collapse of the subchondral bone, was a common feature, being present in 28 (45%) of 61 medial central osteochondral lesions. Reparative cartilage hypertrophy and bone:bone separation in the absence of cartilage fracture were also common findings. Complete osteochondral separation was uncommon. A new five-part grading system incorporating features revealed by high-resolution MR imaging was developed. High-resolution MRI reveals clinically pertinent features of talar osteochondral lesions, which should help comprehension of symptomatology and enhance clinical decision-making. These features were incorporated in a new MR-based grading system. Whenever possible, symptomatic talar osteochondral lesions should be assessed by high-resolution MR imaging. (orig.)

  14. High-resolution MR imaging of talar osteochondral lesions with new classification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griffith, James Francis; Lau, Domily Ting Yi; Yeung, David Ka Wai; Wong, Margaret Wan Nar

    2012-01-01

    Retrospective review of high-resolution MR imaging features of talar dome osteochondral lesions and development of new classification system based on these features. Over the past 7 years, 70 osteochondral lesions of the talar dome from 70 patients (49 males, 21 females, mean age 42 years, range 15-62 years) underwent high-resolution MR imaging with a microscopy coil at 1.5 T. Sixty-one (87%) of 70 lesions were located on the medial central aspect and ten (13%) lesions were located on the lateral central aspect of the talar dome. Features evaluated included cartilage fracture, osteochondral junction separation, subchondral bone collapse, bone:bone separation, and marrow change. Based on these findings, a new five-part grading system was developed. Signal-to-noise characteristics of microscopy coil imaging at 1.5 T were compared to dedicated ankle coil imaging at 3 T. Microscopy coil imaging at 1.5 T yielded 20% better signal-to-noise characteristics than ankle coil imaging at 3 T. High-resolution MR revealed that osteochondral junction separation, due to focal collapse of the subchondral bone, was a common feature, being present in 28 (45%) of 61 medial central osteochondral lesions. Reparative cartilage hypertrophy and bone:bone separation in the absence of cartilage fracture were also common findings. Complete osteochondral separation was uncommon. A new five-part grading system incorporating features revealed by high-resolution MR imaging was developed. High-resolution MRI reveals clinically pertinent features of talar osteochondral lesions, which should help comprehension of symptomatology and enhance clinical decision-making. These features were incorporated in a new MR-based grading system. Whenever possible, symptomatic talar osteochondral lesions should be assessed by high-resolution MR imaging. (orig.)

  15. Neural understanding of low-resolution images

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spaanenburg, L; DeGraaf, J; Nijhuis, JAG; Stevens, [No Value; Wichers, W

    1998-01-01

    Neural networks can be applied for a number of innovative applications in a production environment, ranging from security & safety in the environmental conditions to the product control & diagnosis. For visual monitoring the use of low-resolution images is promising to bridge the time elapse between

  16. Application of two-dimensional crystallography and image processing to atomic resolution Z-contrast images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, David G; Ramasse, Quentin M; Browning, Nigel D

    2009-06-01

    Zone axis images recorded using high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM or Z-contrast imaging) reveal the atomic structure with a resolution that is defined by the probe size of the microscope. In most cases, the full images contain many sub-images of the crystal unit cell and/or interface structure. Thanks to the repetitive nature of these images, it is possible to apply standard image processing techniques that have been developed for the electron crystallography of biological macromolecules and have been used widely in other fields of electron microscopy for both organic and inorganic materials. These methods can be used to enhance the signal-to-noise present in the original images, to remove distortions in the images that arise from either the instrumentation or the specimen itself and to quantify properties of the material in ways that are difficult without such data processing. In this paper, we describe briefly the theory behind these image processing techniques and demonstrate them for aberration-corrected, high-resolution HAADF-STEM images of Si(46) clathrates developed for hydrogen storage.

  17. Dedicated mobile high resolution prostate PET imager with an insertable transrectal probe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majewski, Stanislaw; Proffitt, James

    2010-12-28

    A dedicated mobile PET imaging system to image the prostate and surrounding organs. The imaging system includes an outside high resolution PET imager placed close to the patient's torso and an insertable and compact transrectal probe that is placed in close proximity to the prostate and operates in conjunction with the outside imager. The two detector systems are spatially co-registered to each other. The outside imager is mounted on an open rotating gantry to provide torso-wide 3D images of the prostate and surrounding tissue and organs. The insertable probe provides closer imaging, high sensitivity, and very high resolution predominately 2D view of the prostate and immediate surroundings. The probe is operated in conjunction with the outside imager and a fast data acquisition system to provide very high resolution reconstruction of the prostate and surrounding tissue and organs.

  18. A Simple Metric for Determining Resolution in Optical, Ion, and Electron Microscope Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curtin, Alexandra E; Skinner, Ryan; Sanders, Aric W

    2015-06-01

    A resolution metric intended for resolution analysis of arbitrary spatially calibrated images is presented. By fitting a simple sigmoidal function to pixel intensities across slices of an image taken perpendicular to light-dark edges, the mean distance over which the light-dark transition occurs can be determined. A fixed multiple of this characteristic distance is then reported as the image resolution. The prefactor is determined by analysis of scanning transmission electron microscope high-angle annular dark field images of Si. This metric has been applied to optical, scanning electron microscope, and helium ion microscope images. This method provides quantitative feedback about image resolution, independent of the tool on which the data were collected. In addition, our analysis provides a nonarbitrary and self-consistent framework that any end user can utilize to evaluate the resolution of multiple microscopes from any vendor using the same metric.

  19. Sub-Airy disk angular resolution with high dynamic range in the near-infrared

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richichi A.

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Lunar occultations (LO are a simple and effective high angular resolution method, with minimum requirements in instrumentation and telescope time. They rely on the analysis of the diffraction fringes created by the lunar limb. The diffraction phenomen occurs in space, and as a result LO are highly insensitive to most of the degrading effects that limit the performance of traditional single telescope and long-baseline interferometric techniques used for direct detection of faint, close companions to bright stars. We present very recent results obtained with the technique of lunar occultations in the near-IR, showing the detection of companions with very high dynamic range as close as few milliarcseconds to the primary star. We discuss the potential improvements that could be made, to increase further the current performance. Of course, LO are fixed-time events applicable only to sources which happen to lie on the Moon’s apparent orbit. However, with the continuously increasing numbers of potential exoplanets and brown dwarfs beign discovered, the frequency of such events is not negligible. I will list some of the most favorable potential LO in the near future, to be observed from major observatories.

  20. The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Focal Plane Detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukherjee, Reshmi; Byrum, K.; Drake, G.; Falcone, A.; Funk, S.; Horan, D.; Tajima, H.; Wagner, B.; Williams, D.

    2008-04-01

    Report of the Focal Plane Instrumentation Working Group, AGIS collaboration: The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a concept for the next generation instrument in ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It has the goal of achieving significant improvement in sensitivity over current experiments. One of the main requirements for AGIS will be to achieve higher angular resolution than current imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). Simulations show that a substantial improvement in angular resolution may be achieved if the pixel size is reduced to 0.05 deg, below that of current IACTs. Reducing the cost per channel and improving reliability and modularity are other important considerations. Here we present several alternatives being considered for AGIS, including both silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMTs) and summarize results from feasibility testing by various AGIS photodetector group members.

  1. Wavelet Filter Banks for Super-Resolution SAR Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheybani, Ehsan O.; Deshpande, Manohar; Memarsadeghi, Nargess

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses Innovative wavelet-based filter banks designed to enhance the analysis of super resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images using parametric spectral methods and signal classification algorithms, SAR finds applications In many of NASA's earth science fields such as deformation, ecosystem structure, and dynamics of Ice, snow and cold land processes, and surface water and ocean topography. Traditionally, standard methods such as Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast-Fourier Transform (IFFT) have been used to extract Images from SAR radar data, Due to non-parametric features of these methods and their resolution limitations and observation time dependence, use of spectral estimation and signal pre- and post-processing techniques based on wavelets to process SAR radar data has been proposed. Multi-resolution wavelet transforms and advanced spectral estimation techniques have proven to offer efficient solutions to this problem.

  2. Effects of data sampling rate on image quality in fan-beam-CT system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iwata, Akira; Yamagishi, Nobutoshi; Suzumura, Nobuo; Horiba, Isao.

    1984-01-01

    Investigation was made into the relationship between spatial resolution or artifacts and data sampling rate in order to pursue the causes of the degradation of CT image quality by computer simulation. First the generation of projection data and reconstruction calculating process are described, and then the results are shown about the relation between angular sampling interval and spatical resolution or artifacts, and about the relation between projection data sampling interval and spatial resolution or artifacts. It was clarified that the formulation of the relationship between spatial resolution and data sampling rate performed so far for parallel X-ray beam was able to be applied to fan beam. As a conclusion, when other reconstruction parameters are the same in fan beam CT systems, spatial resolution can be determined by projection data sampling rate rather than angular sampling rate. The mechanism of artifact generation due to the insufficient number of angular samples was made clear. It was also made clear that there was a definite relationship among measuring region, angular sampling rate and projection data sampling rate, and the amount of artifacts depending upon projection data sampling rate was proportional to the amount of spatial frequency components (Aliasing components) of a test object above the Nyquist frequency of projection data. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

  3. Automated and angular time-synchronized directional gamma-ray scintillation sensor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kronenberg, S.; Brucker, G.J.

    1998-01-01

    The authors' previous research resulted in directional sensors for gamma rays and X rays that have a 4π solid angle of acceptance and, at the same time, a high angular resolution that is limited only by their ability to measure small angles. Angular resolution of ∼1 s of arc was achieved. These sensors are capable of operating and accurately detecting high and very low intensity radiation patterns. Such a system can also be used to image broad area sources and their scattering patterns. The principle of operation and design of directional sensors used in this study was described elsewhere; however, for convenience, a part of that text is repeated here. It was shown analytically that the angular distribution of radiation incident on the sensor is proportional to the first derivative of the scan data, that is, of the events' count rate versus orientation of the detector. The previously published results were obtained with a annual operating system. The detector assembly was set at a specific angle, and a pulse rate count was made. This was repeated at numerous other angles of orientation, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Recently, the authors automated this system, which is based on the detection of scintillations. The detector, which consists of a stack of plates of Lucite, plastic scintillator, and lead foils, rotates by means of a motor in front of a stationary photomultiplier tube (PMT). One revolution per second was chosen for the motor. At time zero, a trigger indicates that a revolution has started. The angle of orientation of the detector in the laboratory system is proportional to the time during one revolution. The process repeats itself a desired number of times. The trigger signal initiates a scan of a multichannel scalar (MCS). The detector assembly is allowed to rotate in the radiation field, and the MCS scans are repeated in an accumulated mode of operation until enough events are collected for the location of the radiation source to be

  4. Super-Resolution Image Reconstruction Applied to Medical Ultrasound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Michael

    Ultrasound is the preferred imaging modality for many diagnostic applications due to its real-time image reconstruction and low cost. Nonetheless, conventional ultrasound is not used in many applications because of limited spatial resolution and soft tissue contrast. Most commercial ultrasound systems reconstruct images using a simple delay-and-sum architecture on receive, which is fast and robust but does not utilize all information available in the raw data. Recently, more sophisticated image reconstruction methods have been developed that make use of far more information in the raw data to improve resolution and contrast. One such method is the Time-Domain Optimized Near-Field Estimator (TONE), which employs a maximum a priori estimation to solve a highly underdetermined problem, given a well-defined system model. TONE has been shown to significantly improve both the contrast and resolution of ultrasound images when compared to conventional methods. However, TONE's lack of robustness to variations from the system model and extremely high computational cost hinder it from being readily adopted in clinical scanners. This dissertation aims to reduce the impact of TONE's shortcomings, transforming it from an academic construct to a clinically viable image reconstruction algorithm. By altering the system model from a collection of individual hypothetical scatterers to a collection of weighted, diffuse regions, dTONE is able to achieve much greater robustness to modeling errors. A method for efficient parallelization of dTONE is presented that reduces reconstruction time by more than an order of magnitude with little loss in image fidelity. An alternative reconstruction algorithm, called qTONE, is also developed and is able to reduce reconstruction times by another two orders of magnitude while simultaneously improving image contrast. Each of these methods for improving TONE are presented, their limitations are explored, and all are used in concert to reconstruct in

  5. Theoretical evaluation of the Doppler broadening contribution to the angular resolution in CdZnTe Compton scattering detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Diaz Garcia, A.; Cabal Rodriguez, A.E.; Rubio Rodriguez, J. A.; Salicio Diez, J.; Perez Morales, J.M.; Vela Morales, O.; Willmott Zappacosta, C.; Van Espen, P.

    2011-01-01

    Electronically collimated Compton Cameras have been tested in Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPECT) systems instead of mechanically collimated gamma detectors in order to improve their limited sensitivity. One of the main factors that contribute to the worsening of the angular resolution and thus to the deterioration of the system spatial resolution is Doppler broadening. Double differential Klein-Nishina equation is used to consider the random movement of electron inside the crystal. It is important to perform this analysis for each particular material because is difficult to infer one simple Doppler broadening dependency of the atomic number Z. In high Z materials the internal electrons are strongly linked to the nucleus and therefore there can be found high momentums, but they represent just a small portion of the electrons that suffers Compton scattering. This work estimates the influence of the Doppler broadening in CdZnTe semiconductor for different incoming photon energies. For this means there are analyzed main Compton broadening processes in semiconductor Cd 0,8 Zn 0,2 Te with density ρ=5,85g/cm 3 . (Author)

  6. An Ex Vivo Imaging Pipeline for Producing High- Quality and High-Resolution Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Datasets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dyrby, Tim Bjørn; Baaré, William F.C.; Alexander, Daniel C.

    2011-01-01

    Diffusion tensor (DT) imaging and related multifiber reconstruction algorithms allow the study of in vivo microstructure and, by means of tractography, structural connectivity. Although reconstruction algorithms are promising imaging tools, high‐quality diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) datasets...... complexity, to establish an ex vivo imaging pipeline for generating high‐quality DWI datasets. Perfusion fixation ensured that tissue characteristics were comparable to in vivo conditions. There were three main results: (i) heat conduction and unstable tissue mechanics accounted for time‐varying artefacts...... in the DWI dataset, which were present for up to 15 h after positioning brain tissue in the scanner; (ii) using fitted DT, q‐ball, and persistent angular structure magnetic resonance imaging algorithms, any b‐value between ∼2,000 and ∼8,000 s/mm2, with an optimal value around 4,000 s/mm2, allowed...

  7. Combining scanning tunneling microscopy and synchrotron radiation for high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy with chemical, electronic, and magnetic contrast

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cummings, M.L.; Chien, T.Y.; Preissner, C.; Madhavan, V.; Diesing, D.; Bode, M.; Freeland, J.W.; Rose, V.

    2012-01-01

    The combination of high-brilliance synchrotron radiation with scanning tunneling microscopy opens the path to high-resolution imaging with chemical, electronic, and magnetic contrast. Here, the design and experimental results of an in-situ synchrotron enhanced x-ray scanning tunneling microscope (SXSTM) system are presented. The system is designed to allow monochromatic synchrotron radiation to enter the chamber, illuminating the sample with x-ray radiation, while an insulator-coated tip (metallic tip apex open for tunneling, electron collection) is scanned over the surface. A unique feature of the SXSTM is the STM mount assembly, designed with a two free-flex pivot, providing an angular degree of freedom for the alignment of the tip and sample with respect to the incoming x-ray beam. The system designed successfully demonstrates the ability to resolve atomic-scale corrugations. In addition, experiments with synchrotron x-ray radiation validate the SXSTM system as an accurate analysis technique for the study of local magnetic and chemical properties on sample surfaces. The SXSTM system's capabilities have the potential to broaden and deepen the general understanding of surface phenomena by adding elemental contrast to the high-resolution of STM. -- Highlights: ► Synchrotron enhanced x-ray scanning tunneling microscope (SXSTM) system designed. ► Unique STM mount design allows angular DOF for tip alignment with x-ray beam. ► System demonstrates ability to resolve atomic corrugations on HOPG. ► Studies show chemical sensitivity with STM tip from photocurrent and tunneling. ► Results show system's ability to study local magnetic (XMCD) properties on Fe films.

  8. Ultra high spatial and temporal resolution breast imaging at 7T.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Bank, B L; Voogt, I J; Italiaander, M; Stehouwer, B L; Boer, V O; Luijten, P R; Klomp, D W J

    2013-04-01

    There is a need to obtain higher specificity in the detection of breast lesions using MRI. To address this need, Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) MRI has been combined with other structural and functional MRI techniques. Unfortunately, owing to time constraints structural images at ultra-high spatial resolution can generally not be obtained during contrast uptake, whereas the relatively low spatial resolution of functional imaging (e.g. diffusion and perfusion) limits the detection of small lesions. To be able to increase spatial as well as temporal resolution simultaneously, the sensitivity of MR detection needs to increase as well as the ability to effectively accelerate the acquisition. The required gain in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be obtained at 7T, whereas acceleration can be obtained with high-density receiver coil arrays. In this case, morphological imaging can be merged with DCE-MRI, and other functional techniques can be obtained at higher spatial resolution, and with less distortion [e.g. Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI)]. To test the feasibility of this concept, we developed a unilateral breast coil for 7T. It comprises a volume optimized dual-channel transmit coil combined with a 30-channel receive array coil. The high density of small coil elements enabled efficient acceleration in any direction to acquire ultra high spatial resolution MRI of close to 0.6 mm isotropic detail within a temporal resolution of 69 s, high spatial resolution MRI of 1.5 mm isotropic within an ultra high temporal resolution of 6.7 s and low distortion DWI at 7T, all validated in phantoms, healthy volunteers and a patient with a lesion in the right breast classified as Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) IV. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. 3D high-resolution radar imaging of small body interiors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sava, Paul; Asphaug, Erik

    2017-10-01

    Answering fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of small planetary bodies hinges on our ability to image their interior structure in detail and at high resolution (Asphaug, 2009). We often infer internal structure from surface observations, e.g. that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a primordial agglomeration of cometesimals (Massironi et al., 2015). However, the interior structure is not easily accessible without systematic imaging using, e.g., radar transmission and reflection data, as suggested by the CONSERT experiment on Rosetta. Interior imaging depends on observations from multiple viewpoints, as in medical tomography.We discuss radar imaging using methodology adapted from terrestrial exploration seismology (Sava et al., 2015). We primarily focus on full wavefield methods that facilitate high quality imaging of small body interiors characterized by complex structure and large contrasts of physical properties. We consider the case of a monostatic system (co-located transmitters and receivers) operated at two frequency bands, centered around 5 and 15 MHz, from a spacecraft in slow polar orbit around a spinning comet nucleus. Assuming that the spin period is significantly (e.g. 5x) faster than the orbital period, this configuration allows repeated views from multiple directions (Safaeinili et al., 2002)Using realistic numerical experiments, we argue that (1) the comet/asteroid imaging problem is intrinsically 3D and conventional SAR methodology does not satisfy imaging, sampling and resolution requirements; (2) imaging at different frequency bands can provide information about internal surfaces (through migration) and internal volumes (through tomography); (3) interior imaging can be accomplished progressively as data are being acquired through successive orbits around the studied object; (4) imaging resolution can go beyond the apparent radar frequency band by deconvolution of the point-spread-function characterizing the imaging system; and (5

  10. Pan-neuronal calcium imaging with cellular resolution in freely swimming zebrafish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dal Hyung; Kim, Jungsoo; Marques, João C; Grama, Abhinav; Hildebrand, David G C; Gu, Wenchao; Li, Jennifer M; Robson, Drew N

    2017-11-01

    Calcium imaging with cellular resolution typically requires an animal to be tethered under a microscope, which substantially restricts the range of behaviors that can be studied. To expand the behavioral repertoire amenable to imaging, we have developed a tracking microscope that enables whole-brain calcium imaging with cellular resolution in freely swimming larval zebrafish. This microscope uses infrared imaging to track a target animal in a behavior arena. On the basis of the predicted trajectory of the animal, we applied optimal control theory to a motorized stage system to cancel brain motion in three dimensions. We combined this motion-cancellation system with differential illumination focal filtering, a variant of HiLo microscopy, which enabled us to image the brain of a freely swimming larval zebrafish for more than an hour. This work expands the repertoire of natural behaviors that can be studied with cellular-resolution calcium imaging to potentially include spatial navigation, social behavior, feeding and reward.

  11. Sub-Angstrom Atomic-Resolution Imaging of Heavy Atoms to Light Atoms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O' Keefe, Michael A.; Shao-Horn, Yang

    2003-05-23

    Three decades ago John Cowley and his group at ASU achieved high-resolution electron microscope images showing the crystal unit cell contents at better than 4Angstrom resolution. Over the years, this achievement has inspired improvements in resolution that have enabled researchers to pinpoint the positions of heavy atom columns within the cell. More recently, this ability has been extended to light atoms as resolution has improved. Sub-Angstrom resolution has enabled researchers to image the columns of light atoms (carbon, oxygen and nitrogen) that are present in many complex structures. By using sub-Angstrom focal-series reconstruction of the specimen exit surface wave to image columns of cobalt, oxygen, and lithium atoms in a transition metal oxide structure commonly used as positive electrodes in lithium rechargeable batteries, we show that the range of detectable light atoms extends to lithium. HRTEM at sub-Angstrom resolution will provide the essential role of experimental verification for the emergent nanotech revolution. Our results foreshadow those to be expected from next-generation TEMs with Cs-corrected lenses and monochromated electron beams.

  12. Microsphere-aided optical microscopy and its applications for super-resolution imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Upputuri, Paul Kumar; Pramanik, Manojit

    2017-12-01

    The spatial resolution of a standard optical microscope (SOM) is limited by diffraction. In visible spectrum, SOM can provide ∼ 200 nm resolution. To break the diffraction limit several approaches were developed including scanning near field microscopy, metamaterial super-lenses, nanoscale solid immersion lenses, super-oscillatory lenses, confocal fluorescence microscopy, techniques that exploit non-linear response of fluorophores like stimulated emission depletion microscopy, stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, etc. Recently, photonic nanojet generated by a dielectric microsphere was used to break the diffraction limit. The microsphere-approach is simple, cost-effective and can be implemented under a standard microscope, hence it has gained enormous attention for super-resolution imaging. In this article, we briefly review the microsphere approach and its applications for super-resolution imaging in various optical imaging modalities.

  13. 3D high spectral and spatial resolution imaging of ex vivo mouse brain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foxley, Sean; Karczmar, Gregory S.; Domowicz, Miriam; Schwartz, Nancy

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Widely used MRI methods show brain morphology both in vivo and ex vivo at very high resolution. Many of these methods (e.g., T 2 * -weighted imaging, phase-sensitive imaging, or susceptibility-weighted imaging) are sensitive to local magnetic susceptibility gradients produced by subtle variations in tissue composition. However, the spectral resolution of commonly used methods is limited to maintain reasonable run-time combined with very high spatial resolution. Here, the authors report on data acquisition at increased spectral resolution, with 3-dimensional high spectral and spatial resolution MRI, in order to analyze subtle variations in water proton resonance frequency and lineshape that reflect local anatomy. The resulting information compliments previous studies based on T 2 * and resonance frequency. Methods: The proton free induction decay was sampled at high resolution and Fourier transformed to produce a high-resolution water spectrum for each image voxel in a 3D volume. Data were acquired using a multigradient echo pulse sequence (i.e., echo-planar spectroscopic imaging) with a spatial resolution of 50 × 50 × 70 μm 3 and spectral resolution of 3.5 Hz. Data were analyzed in the spectral domain, and images were produced from the various Fourier components of the water resonance. This allowed precise measurement of local variations in water resonance frequency and lineshape, at the expense of significantly increased run time (16–24 h). Results: High contrast T 2 * -weighted images were produced from the peak of the water resonance (peak height image), revealing a high degree of anatomical detail, specifically in the hippocampus and cerebellum. In images produced from Fourier components of the water resonance at −7.0 Hz from the peak, the contrast between deep white matter tracts and the surrounding tissue is the reverse of the contrast in water peak height images. This indicates the presence of a shoulder in the water resonance that is not

  14. Characterisation of a resolution enhancing image inversion interferometer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wicker, Kai; Sindbert, Simon; Heintzmann, Rainer

    2009-08-31

    Image inversion interferometers have the potential to significantly enhance the lateral resolution and light efficiency of scanning fluorescence microscopes. Self-interference of a point source's coherent point spread function with its inverted copy leads to a reduction in the integrated signal for off-axis sources compared to sources on the inversion axis. This can be used to enhance the resolution in a confocal laser scanning microscope. We present a simple image inversion interferometer relying solely on reflections off planar surfaces. Measurements of the detection point spread function for several types of light sources confirm the predicted performance and suggest its usability for scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy.

  15. Improved Resolution Optical Time Stretch Imaging Based on High Efficiency In-Fiber Diffraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Guoqing; Yan, Zhijun; Yang, Lei; Zhang, Lin; Wang, Chao

    2018-01-12

    Most overlooked challenges in ultrafast optical time stretch imaging (OTSI) are sacrificed spatial resolution and higher optical loss. These challenges are originated from optical diffraction devices used in OTSI, which encode image into spectra of ultrashort optical pulses. Conventional free-space diffraction gratings, as widely used in existing OTSI systems, suffer from several inherent drawbacks: limited diffraction efficiency in a non-Littrow configuration due to inherent zeroth-order reflection, high coupling loss between free-space gratings and optical fibers, bulky footprint, and more importantly, sacrificed imaging resolution due to non-full-aperture illumination for individual wavelengths. Here we report resolution-improved and diffraction-efficient OTSI using in-fiber diffraction for the first time to our knowledge. The key to overcome the existing challenges is a 45° tilted fiber grating (TFG), which serves as a compact in-fiber diffraction device offering improved diffraction efficiency (up to 97%), inherent compatibility with optical fibers, and improved imaging resolution owning to almost full-aperture illumination for all illumination wavelengths. 50 million frames per second imaging of fast moving object at 46 m/s with improved imaging resolution has been demonstrated. This conceptually new in-fiber diffraction design opens the way towards cost-effective, compact and high-resolution OTSI systems for image-based high-throughput detection and measurement.

  16. On the angular momentum in star formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horedt, G.P.

    1978-01-01

    The author discusses the rotation of interstellar clouds which are in a stage immediately before star formation. Cloud collisions seem to be the principal cause of the observed rotation of interstellar clouds. The rotational motion of the clouds is strongly influenced by turbulence. Theories dealing with the resolution of the angular momentum problem in star formation are classified into five major groups. The old idea that the angular momentum of an interstellar cloud passes during star formation into the angular momentum of double star systems and/or circumstellar clouds, is developed. It is suggested that a rotating gas cloud contracts into a ring-like structure which fragments into self-gravitating subcondensations. By collisions and gas accretion these subcondensations accrete into binary systems surrounded by circumstellar clouds. Using some rough approximations the authors find analytical expressions for the semi-major axis of the binary system and for the density of the circumstellar clouds as a function of the initial density and of the initial angular velocity of an interstellar cloud. The obtained values are well within the observational limits. (Auth.)

  17. A tilted fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector for high resolution neutron imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jongyul; Cho, Gyuseong [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jongyul; Hwy, Limchang; Kim, Taejoo; Lee, Kyehong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Seungwook [Pusan National Univ., Pusan (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-05-15

    One of these efforts is that a tilted scintillator geometry and lens coupled CCD detector for neutron imaging system were used to improve spatial resolution in one dimension. The increased spatial resolution in one dimension was applied to fuel cell study. However, a lens coupled CCD detector has lower sensitivity than a fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector due to light loss. In this research, a tilted detector using fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector was developed to improve resolution and sensitivity. In addition, a tilted detector can prevent an image sensor from direct radiation damage. Neutron imaging has been used for fuel cell study, lithium ion battery study, and many scientific applications. High quality neutron imaging is demanded for more detailed studies of applications, and spatial resolution should be considered to get high quality neutron imaging. Therefore, there were many efforts to improve spatial resolution.

  18. High-Resolution 3 T MR Microscopy Imaging of Arterial Walls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sailer, Johannes; Rand, Thomas; Berg, Andreas; Sulzbacher, Irene; Peloschek, P.; Hoelzenbein, Thomas; Lammer, Johannes

    2006-01-01

    Purpose. To achieve a high spatial resolution in MR imaging that allows for clear visualization of anatomy and even histology and documentation of plaque morphology in in vitro samples from patients with advanced atherosclerosis. A further objective of our study was to evaluate whether T2-weighted high-resolution MR imaging can provide accurate classification of atherosclerotic plaque according to a modified American Heart Association classification. Methods. T2-weighted images of arteries were obtained in 13 in vitro specimens using a 3 T MR unit (Medspec 300 Avance/Bruker, Ettlingen, Germany) combined with a dedicated MR microscopy system. Measurement parameters were: T2-weighted sequences with TR 3.5 sec, TE 15-120 msec; field of view (FOV) 1.4 x 1.4; NEX 8; matrix 192; and slice thickness 600 μm. MR measurements were compared with corresponding histologic sections. Results. We achieved excellent spatial and contrast resolution in all specimens. We found high agreement between MR images and histology with regard to the morphology and extent of intimal proliferations in all but 2 specimens. We could differentiate fibrous caps and calcifications from lipid plaque components based on differences in signal intensity in order to differentiate hard and soft atheromatous plaques. Hard plaques with predominantly intimal calcifications were found in 7 specimens, and soft plaques with a cholesterol/lipid content in 5 cases. In all specimens, hemorrhage or thrombus formation, and fibrotic and hyalinized tissue could be detected on both MR imaging and histopathology. Conclusion. High-resolution, high-field MR imaging of arterial walls demonstrates the morphologic features, volume, and extent of intimal proliferations with high spatial and contrast resolution in in vitro specimens and can differentiate hard and soft plaques

  19. Ultrahigh resolution radiation imaging system using an optical fiber structure scintillator plate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Seiichi; Kamada, Kei; Yoshikawa, Akira

    2018-02-16

    High resolution imaging of radiation is required for such radioisotope distribution measurements as alpha particle detection in nuclear facilities or high energy physics experiments. For this purpose, we developed an ultrahigh resolution radiation imaging system using an optical fiber structure scintillator plate. We used a ~1-μm diameter fiber structured GdAlO 3 :Ce (GAP) /α-Al 2 O 3 scintillator plate to reduce the light spread. The fiber structured scintillator plate was optically coupled to a tapered optical fiber plate to magnify the image and combined with a lens-based high sensitivity CCD camera. We observed the images of alpha particles with a spatial resolution of ~25 μm. For the beta particles, the images had various shapes, and the trajectories of the electrons were clearly observed in the images. For the gamma photons, the images also had various shapes, and the trajectories of the secondary electrons were observed in some of the images. These results show that combining an optical fiber structure scintillator plate with a tapered optical fiber plate and a high sensitivity CCD camera achieved ultrahigh resolution and is a promising method to observe the images of the interactions of radiation in a scintillator.

  20. Single Image Super-Resolution Based on Multi-Scale Competitive Convolutional Neural Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Xiaofeng; Qu, Xiaobo; He, Yifan; Guo, Di

    2018-03-06

    Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are successful in single-image super-resolution. Traditional CNNs are limited to exploit multi-scale contextual information for image reconstruction due to the fixed convolutional kernel in their building modules. To restore various scales of image details, we enhance the multi-scale inference capability of CNNs by introducing competition among multi-scale convolutional filters, and build up a shallow network under limited computational resources. The proposed network has the following two advantages: (1) the multi-scale convolutional kernel provides the multi-context for image super-resolution, and (2) the maximum competitive strategy adaptively chooses the optimal scale of information for image reconstruction. Our experimental results on image super-resolution show that the performance of the proposed network outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

  1. Vision 20/20: Increased image resolution versus reduced radiation exposure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ritman, Erik L.

    2008-01-01

    This is a review of methods, currently and potentially, available for significantly reducing x-ray exposure in medical x-ray imaging. It is stimulated by the radiation exposure implications of the growing use of helical scanning, multislice, x-ray computed tomography for screening, such as for coronary artery atherosclerosis and cancer of the colon and lungs. Screening requires high-throughput imaging with high spatial and contrast resolution to meet the need for high sensitivity and specificity of detection and classification of specific imaged features. To achieve this goal beyond what is currently available with x-ray imaging methods requires increased x-ray exposure, which increases the risk of tissue damage and ultimately cancer development. These consequences limit the utility of current x-ray imaging in screening of at-risk subjects who have not yet developed the clinical symptoms of disease. Current methods for reducing x-ray exposure in x-ray imaging, mostly achieved by increasing sensitivity and specificity of the x-ray detection process, may still have potential for an up-to-tenfold decrease. This could be sufficient for doubling the spatial resolution of x-ray CT while maintaining the current x-ray exposure levels. However, a spatial resolution four times what is currently available might be needed to adequately meet the needs for screening. Consequently, for the proposed need to increase spatial resolution, an additional order of magnitude of reduction of x-ray exposure would be needed just to keep the radiation exposure at current levels. This is conceivably achievable if refraction, rather than the currently used attenuation, of x rays is used to generate the images. Existing methods that have potential for imaging the consequences of refracted x ray in a clinical setting are (1) by imaging the edge enhancement that occurs at the interfaces between adjacent tissues of different refractive indices, or (2) by imaging the changes in interference

  2. High Resolution Depth-Resolved Imaging From Multi-Focal Images for Medical Ultrasound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Diamantis, Konstantinos; Dalgarno, Paul A.; Greenaway, Alan H.

    2015-01-01

    An ultrasound imaging technique providing subdiffraction limit axial resolution for point sources is proposed. It is based on simultaneously acquired multi-focal images of the same object, and on the image metric of sharpness. The sharpness is extracted by image data and presents higher values...... calibration curves combined with the use of a maximum-likelihood algorithm is then able to estimate, with high precision, the depth location of any emitter fron each single image. Estimated values are compared with the ground truth demonstrating that an accuracy of 28.6 µm (0.13λ) is achieved for a 4 mm depth...

  3. Single image super resolution algorithm based on edge interpolation in NSCT domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Mengqun; Zhang, Wei; He, Xinyu

    2017-11-01

    In order to preserve the texture and edge information and to improve the space resolution of single frame, a superresolution algorithm based on Contourlet (NSCT) is proposed. The original low resolution image is transformed by NSCT, and the directional sub-band coefficients of the transform domain are obtained. According to the scale factor, the high frequency sub-band coefficients are amplified by the interpolation method based on the edge direction to the desired resolution. For high frequency sub-band coefficients with noise and weak targets, Bayesian shrinkage is used to calculate the threshold value. The coefficients below the threshold are determined by the correlation among the sub-bands of the same scale to determine whether it is noise and de-noising. The anisotropic diffusion filter is used to effectively enhance the weak target in the low contrast region of the target and background. Finally, the high-frequency sub-band is amplified by the bilinear interpolation method to the desired resolution, and then combined with the high-frequency subband coefficients after de-noising and small target enhancement, the NSCT inverse transform is used to obtain the desired resolution image. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, the proposed algorithm and several common image reconstruction methods are used to test the synthetic image, motion blurred image and hyperspectral image, the experimental results show that compared with the traditional single resolution algorithm, the proposed algorithm can obtain smooth edges and good texture features, and the reconstructed image structure is well preserved and the noise is suppressed to some extent.

  4. Basic principles of diffusion-weighted imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bammer, Roland.

    2003-01-01

    In diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), image contrast is determined by the random microscopic motion of water protons. During the last years, DWI has become an important modality in the diagnostic work-up of acute ischemia in the CNS. There are also a few promising reports about the application of DWI to other regions in the human body, such as the vertebral column or the abdomen. This manuscript provides an introduction into the basics of DWI and Diffusion Tensor imaging. The potential of various MR sequences in concert with diffusion preparation are discussed with respect to acquisition speed, spatial resolution, and sensitivity to bulk physiologic motion. More advanced diffusion measurement techniques, such as high angular resolution diffusion imaging, are also addressed

  5. High resolution stationary digital breast tomosynthesis using distributed carbon nanotube x-ray source array.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Xin; Tucker, Andrew; Gidcumb, Emily; Shan, Jing; Yang, Guang; Calderon-Colon, Xiomara; Sultana, Shabana; Lu, Jianping; Zhou, Otto; Spronk, Derrek; Sprenger, Frank; Zhang, Yiheng; Kennedy, Don; Farbizio, Tom; Jing, Zhenxue

    2012-04-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of increasing the system spatial resolution and scanning speed of Hologic Selenia Dimensions digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) scanner by replacing the rotating mammography x-ray tube with a specially designed carbon nanotube (CNT) x-ray source array, which generates all the projection images needed for tomosynthesis reconstruction by electronically activating individual x-ray sources without any mechanical motion. The stationary digital breast tomosynthesis (s-DBT) design aims to (i) increase the system spatial resolution by eliminating image blurring due to x-ray tube motion and (ii) reduce the scanning time. Low spatial resolution and long scanning time are the two main technical limitations of current DBT technology. A CNT x-ray source array was designed and evaluated against a set of targeted system performance parameters. Simulations were performed to determine the maximum anode heat load at the desired focal spot size and to design the electron focusing optics. Field emission current from CNT cathode was measured for an extended period of time to determine the stable life time of CNT cathode for an expected clinical operation scenario. The source array was manufactured, tested, and integrated with a Selenia scanner. An electronic control unit was developed to interface the source array with the detection system and to scan and regulate x-ray beams. The performance of the s-DBT system was evaluated using physical phantoms. The spatially distributed CNT x-ray source array comprised 31 individually addressable x-ray sources covering a 30 angular span with 1 pitch and an isotropic focal spot size of 0.6 mm at full width at half-maximum. Stable operation at 28 kV(peak) anode voltage and 38 mA tube current was demonstrated with extended lifetime and good source-to-source consistency. For the standard imaging protocol of 15 views over 14, 100 mAs dose, and 2 × 2 detector binning, the projection

  6. Using hyperentanglement to enhance resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and measurement time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, James F.

    2017-03-01

    A hyperentanglement-based atmospheric imaging/detection system involving only a signal and an ancilla photon will be considered for optical and infrared frequencies. Only the signal photon will propagate in the atmosphere and its loss will be classical. The ancilla photon will remain within the sensor experiencing low loss. Closed form expressions for the wave function, normalization, density operator, reduced density operator, symmetrized logarithmic derivative, quantum Fisher information, quantum Cramer-Rao lower bound, coincidence probabilities, probability of detection, probability of false alarm, probability of error after M measurements, signal-to-noise ratio, quantum Chernoff bound, time-on-target expressions related to probability of error, and resolution will be provided. The effect of noise in every mode will be included as well as loss. The system will provide the basic design for an imaging/detection system functioning at optical or infrared frequencies that offers better than classical angular and range resolution. Optimization for enhanced resolution will be included. The signal-to-noise ratio will be increased by a factor equal to the number of modes employed during the hyperentanglement process. Likewise, the measurement time can be reduced by the same factor. The hyperentanglement generator will typically make use of entanglement in polarization, energy-time, orbital angular momentum and so on. Mathematical results will be provided describing the system's performance as a function of loss mechanisms and noise.

  7. Compton imaging with a highly-segmented, position-sensitive HPGe detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steinbach, T.; Hirsch, R.; Reiter, P.; Birkenbach, B.; Bruyneel, B.; Eberth, J.; Hess, H.; Lewandowski, L. [Universitaet zu Koeln, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Koeln (Germany); Gernhaeuser, R.; Maier, L.; Schlarb, M.; Weiler, B.; Winkel, M. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik Department, Garching (Germany)

    2017-02-15

    A Compton camera based on a highly-segmented high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector and a double-sided silicon-strip detector (DSSD) was developed, tested, and put into operation; the origin of γ radiation was determined successfully. The Compton camera is operated in two different modes. Coincidences from Compton-scattered γ-ray events between DSSD and HPGe detector allow for best angular resolution; while the high-efficiency mode takes advantage of the position sensitivity of the highly-segmented HPGe detector. In this mode the setup is sensitive to the whole 4π solid angle. The interaction-point positions in the 36-fold segmented large-volume HPGe detector are determined by pulse-shape analysis (PSA) of all HPGe detector signals. Imaging algorithms were developed for each mode and successfully implemented. The angular resolution sensitively depends on parameters such as geometry, selected multiplicity and interaction-point distances. Best results were obtained taking into account the crosstalk properties, the time alignment of the signals and the distance metric for the PSA for both operation modes. An angular resolution between 13.8 {sup circle} and 19.1 {sup circle}, depending on the minimal interaction-point distance for the high-efficiency mode at an energy of 1275 keV, was achieved. In the coincidence mode, an increased angular resolution of 4.6 {sup circle} was determined for the same γ-ray energy. (orig.)

  8. High spatial resolution CT image reconstruction using parallel computing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yin Yin; Liu Li; Sun Gongxing

    2003-01-01

    Using the PC cluster system with 16 dual CPU nodes, we accelerate the FBP and OR-OSEM reconstruction of high spatial resolution image (2048 x 2048). Based on the number of projections, we rewrite the reconstruction algorithms into parallel format and dispatch the tasks to each CPU. By parallel computing, the speedup factor is roughly equal to the number of CPUs, which can be up to about 25 times when 25 CPUs used. This technique is very suitable for real-time high spatial resolution CT image reconstruction. (authors)

  9. Projections onto Convex Sets Super-Resolution Reconstruction Based on Point Spread Function Estimation of Low-Resolution Remote Sensing Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chong Fan

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available To solve the problem on inaccuracy when estimating the point spread function (PSF of the ideal original image in traditional projection onto convex set (POCS super-resolution (SR reconstruction, this paper presents an improved POCS SR algorithm based on PSF estimation of low-resolution (LR remote sensing images. The proposed algorithm can improve the spatial resolution of the image and benefit agricultural crop visual interpolation. The PSF of the highresolution (HR image is unknown in reality. Therefore, analysis of the relationship between the PSF of the HR image and the PSF of the LR image is important to estimate the PSF of the HR image by using multiple LR images. In this study, the linear relationship between the PSFs of the HR and LR images can be proven. In addition, the novel slant knife-edge method is employed, which can improve the accuracy of the PSF estimation of LR images. Finally, the proposed method is applied to reconstruct airborne digital sensor 40 (ADS40 three-line array images and the overlapped areas of two adjacent GF-2 images by embedding the estimated PSF of the HR image to the original POCS SR algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed method yields higher quality of reconstructed images than that produced by the blind SR method and the bicubic interpolation method.

  10. Extracting a Good Quality Frontal Face Image from a Low-Resolution Video Sequence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nasrollahi, Kamal; Moeslund, Thomas B.

    2011-01-01

    Feeding low-resolution and low-quality images, from inexpensive surveillance cameras, to systems like, e.g., face recognition, produces erroneous and unstable results. Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism to bridge the gap between on one hand low-resolution and low-quality images......, we use a learning-based super-resolution algorithm applied to the result of the reconstruction-based part to improve the quality by another factor of two. This results in an improvement factor of four for the entire system. The proposed system has been tested on 122 low-resolution sequences from two...... different databases. The experimental results show that the proposed system can indeed produce a high-resolution and good quality frontal face image from low-resolution video sequences....

  11. 3D high spectral and spatial resolution imaging of ex vivo mouse brain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Foxley, Sean, E-mail: sean.foxley@ndcn.ox.ac.uk; Karczmar, Gregory S. [Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Domowicz, Miriam [Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Schwartz, Nancy [Department of Pediatrics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)

    2015-03-15

    Purpose: Widely used MRI methods show brain morphology both in vivo and ex vivo at very high resolution. Many of these methods (e.g., T{sub 2}{sup *}-weighted imaging, phase-sensitive imaging, or susceptibility-weighted imaging) are sensitive to local magnetic susceptibility gradients produced by subtle variations in tissue composition. However, the spectral resolution of commonly used methods is limited to maintain reasonable run-time combined with very high spatial resolution. Here, the authors report on data acquisition at increased spectral resolution, with 3-dimensional high spectral and spatial resolution MRI, in order to analyze subtle variations in water proton resonance frequency and lineshape that reflect local anatomy. The resulting information compliments previous studies based on T{sub 2}{sup *} and resonance frequency. Methods: The proton free induction decay was sampled at high resolution and Fourier transformed to produce a high-resolution water spectrum for each image voxel in a 3D volume. Data were acquired using a multigradient echo pulse sequence (i.e., echo-planar spectroscopic imaging) with a spatial resolution of 50 × 50 × 70 μm{sup 3} and spectral resolution of 3.5 Hz. Data were analyzed in the spectral domain, and images were produced from the various Fourier components of the water resonance. This allowed precise measurement of local variations in water resonance frequency and lineshape, at the expense of significantly increased run time (16–24 h). Results: High contrast T{sub 2}{sup *}-weighted images were produced from the peak of the water resonance (peak height image), revealing a high degree of anatomical detail, specifically in the hippocampus and cerebellum. In images produced from Fourier components of the water resonance at −7.0 Hz from the peak, the contrast between deep white matter tracts and the surrounding tissue is the reverse of the contrast in water peak height images. This indicates the presence of a shoulder in

  12. Study of DOI resolution and imaging resolution of a PET device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saha, Lipika; Saitoh, Kazumi; Kobayashi, Shigeharu

    2004-01-01

    As a recent trend of DOI measurement for the PET, a simple method of utilizing the light attenuation properties of scintillation materials has been paid attention. We have studied the DOI resolutions for less expensive materials as BGO in both the bench test and the simulation by GEANT4.0. By comparison with both the results, we have recognized the importance of removing the multiple Compton absorption events to obtain the better DOI information. The simulation results for the imaging resolution suggested that its deterioration attributes to the parallax error as well as the systematic displacement inherent in the present method of 3D-reconstruction

  13. Noise and physical limits to maximum resolution of PET images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herraiz, J.L.; Espana, S. [Dpto. Fisica Atomica, Molecular y Nuclear, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Complutense s/n, E-28040 Madrid (Spain); Vicente, E.; Vaquero, J.J.; Desco, M. [Unidad de Medicina y Cirugia Experimental, Hospital GU ' Gregorio Maranon' , E-28007 Madrid (Spain); Udias, J.M. [Dpto. Fisica Atomica, Molecular y Nuclear, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Complutense s/n, E-28040 Madrid (Spain)], E-mail: jose@nuc2.fis.ucm.es

    2007-10-01

    In this work we show that there is a limit for the maximum resolution achievable with a high resolution PET scanner, as well as for the best signal-to-noise ratio, which are ultimately related to the physical effects involved in the emission and detection of the radiation and thus they cannot be overcome with any particular reconstruction method. These effects prevent the spatial high frequency components of the imaged structures to be recorded by the scanner. Therefore, the information encoded in these high frequencies cannot be recovered by any reconstruction technique. Within this framework, we have determined the maximum resolution achievable for a given acquisition as a function of data statistics and scanner parameters, like the size of the crystals or the inter-crystal scatter. In particular, the noise level in the data as a limitation factor to yield high-resolution images in tomographs with small crystal sizes is outlined. These results have implications regarding how to decide the optimal number of voxels of the reconstructed image or how to design better PET scanners.

  14. Noise and physical limits to maximum resolution of PET images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herraiz, J.L.; Espana, S.; Vicente, E.; Vaquero, J.J.; Desco, M.; Udias, J.M.

    2007-01-01

    In this work we show that there is a limit for the maximum resolution achievable with a high resolution PET scanner, as well as for the best signal-to-noise ratio, which are ultimately related to the physical effects involved in the emission and detection of the radiation and thus they cannot be overcome with any particular reconstruction method. These effects prevent the spatial high frequency components of the imaged structures to be recorded by the scanner. Therefore, the information encoded in these high frequencies cannot be recovered by any reconstruction technique. Within this framework, we have determined the maximum resolution achievable for a given acquisition as a function of data statistics and scanner parameters, like the size of the crystals or the inter-crystal scatter. In particular, the noise level in the data as a limitation factor to yield high-resolution images in tomographs with small crystal sizes is outlined. These results have implications regarding how to decide the optimal number of voxels of the reconstructed image or how to design better PET scanners

  15. Combined multi-plane phase retrieval and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging for 4D cell microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Descloux, A.; Grußmayer, K. S.; Bostan, E.; Lukes, T.; Bouwens, A.; Sharipov, A.; Geissbuehler, S.; Mahul-Mellier, A.-L.; Lashuel, H. A.; Leutenegger, M.; Lasser, T.

    2018-03-01

    Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy provides unprecedented insight into cellular and subcellular structures. However, going `beyond the diffraction barrier' comes at a price, since most far-field super-resolution imaging techniques trade temporal for spatial super-resolution. We propose the combination of a novel label-free white light quantitative phase imaging with fluorescence to provide high-speed imaging and spatial super-resolution. The non-iterative phase retrieval relies on the acquisition of single images at each z-location and thus enables straightforward 3D phase imaging using a classical microscope. We realized multi-plane imaging using a customized prism for the simultaneous acquisition of eight planes. This allowed us to not only image live cells in 3D at up to 200 Hz, but also to integrate fluorescence super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging within the same optical instrument. The 4D microscope platform unifies the sensitivity and high temporal resolution of phase imaging with the specificity and high spatial resolution of fluorescence microscopy.

  16. The Wide Field Imager of the International X-ray Observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stefanescu, A., E-mail: astefan@hll.mpg.d [Max-Planck-Institut Halbleiterlabor, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, 81739 Muenchen (Germany); Johannes Gutenberg-Universitaet, Inst. f. anorganische und analytische Chemie, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Bautz, M.W. [Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 (United States); Burrows, D.N. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Bombelli, L.; Fiorini, C. [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Milano (Italy); INFN Sezione di Milano, Milano (Italy); Fraser, G. [Space Research Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom); Heinzinger, K. [PNSensor GmbH, Roemerstr. 28, 80803 Muenchen (Germany); Herrmann, S. [Max-Planck-Institut Halbleiterlabor, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, 81739 Muenchen (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr., 85748 Garching (Germany); Kuster, M. [Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Institut fuer Kernphysik, Schlossgartenstr. 9, 64289 Darmstadt (Germany); Lauf, T. [Max-Planck-Institut Halbleiterlabor, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, 81739 Muenchen (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr., 85748 Garching (Germany); Lechner, P. [PNSensor GmbH, Roemerstr. 28, 80803 Muenchen (Germany); Lutz, G. [Max-Planck-Institut Halbleiterlabor, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, 81739 Muenchen (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Muenchen (Germany); Majewski, P. [PNSensor GmbH, Roemerstr. 28, 80803 Muenchen (Germany); Meuris, A. [Max-Planck-Institut Halbleiterlabor, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, 81739 Muenchen (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstr., 85748 Garching (Germany); Murray, S.S. [Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2010-12-11

    The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) will be a joint X-ray observatory mission by ESA, NASA and JAXA. It will have a large effective area (3 m{sup 2} at 1.25 keV) grazing incidence mirror system with good angular resolution (5 arcsec at 0.1-10 keV) and will feature a comprehensive suite of scientific instruments: an X-ray Microcalorimeter Spectrometer, a High Time Resolution Spectrometer, an X-ray Polarimeter, an X-ray Grating Spectrometer, a Hard X-ray Imager and a Wide-Field Imager. The Wide Field Imager (WFI) has a field-of-view of 18 ftx18 ft. It will be sensitive between 0.1 and 15 keV, offer the full angular resolution of the mirrors and good energy resolution. The WFI will be implemented as a 6 in. wafer-scale monolithical array of 1024x1024 pixels of 100x100{mu}m{sup 2} size. The DEpleted P-channel Field-Effect Transistors (DEPFET) forming the individual pixels are devices combining the functionalities of both detector and amplifier. Signal electrons are collected in a potential well below the transistor's gate, modulating the transistor current. Even when the device is powered off, the signal charge is collected and kept in the potential well below the gate until it is explicitly cleared. This makes flexible and fast readout modes possible.

  17. Super-resolution of facial images in forensics scenarios

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Satiro, Joao; Nasrollahi, Kamal; Correia, Paulo

    2015-01-01

    -resolution (SR) algorithms might be used. But, the problem with these algorithms is that they mostly require motion estimation between LR and low-quality images which is not always practical. To deal with this, we first simply interpolate the LR input images and then perform motion estimation. The estimated...... motion parameters are then used in a non-local mean-based SR algorithm to produce a higher quality image. This image is further fused with the interpolated version of the reference image via an alpha-blending approach. The experimental results on benchmark datasets and locally collected videos from...

  18. A fast and automatic mosaic method for high-resolution satellite images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hongshun; He, Hui; Xiao, Hongyu; Huang, Jing

    2015-12-01

    We proposed a fast and fully automatic mosaic method for high-resolution satellite images. First, the overlapped rectangle is computed according to geographical locations of the reference and mosaic images and feature points on both the reference and mosaic images are extracted by a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm only from the overlapped region. Then, the RANSAC method is used to match feature points of both images. Finally, the two images are fused into a seamlessly panoramic image by the simple linear weighted fusion method or other method. The proposed method is implemented in C++ language based on OpenCV and GDAL, and tested by Worldview-2 multispectral images with a spatial resolution of 2 meters. Results show that the proposed method can detect feature points efficiently and mosaic images automatically.

  19. Multiple-image hiding using super resolution reconstruction in high-frequency domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiao-Wei; Zhao, Wu-Xiang; Wang, Jun; Wang, Qiong-Hua

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, a robust multiple-image hiding method using the computer-generated integral imaging and the modified super-resolution reconstruction algorithm is proposed. In our work, the host image is first transformed into frequency domains by cellular automata (CA), to assure the quality of the stego-image, the secret images are embedded into the CA high-frequency domains. The proposed method has the following advantages: (1) robustness to geometric attacks because of the memory-distributed property of elemental images, (2) increasing quality of the reconstructed secret images as the scheme utilizes the modified super-resolution reconstruction algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed multiple-image hiding method outperforms other similar hiding methods and is robust to some geometric attacks, e.g., Gaussian noise and JPEG compression attacks.

  20. Retrieving high-resolution images over the Internet from an anatomical image database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strupp-Adams, Annette; Henderson, Earl

    1999-12-01

    The Visible Human Data set is an important contribution to the national collection of anatomical images. To enhance the availability of these images, the National Library of Medicine has supported the design and development of a prototype object-oriented image database which imports, stores, and distributes high resolution anatomical images in both pixel and voxel formats. One of the key database modules is its client-server Internet interface. This Web interface provides a query engine with retrieval access to high-resolution anatomical images that range in size from 100KB for browser viewable rendered images, to 1GB for anatomical structures in voxel file formats. The Web query and retrieval client-server system is composed of applet GUIs, servlets, and RMI application modules which communicate with each other to allow users to query for specific anatomical structures, and retrieve image data as well as associated anatomical images from the database. Selected images can be downloaded individually as single files via HTTP or downloaded in batch-mode over the Internet to the user's machine through an applet that uses Netscape's Object Signing mechanism. The image database uses ObjectDesign's object-oriented DBMS, ObjectStore that has a Java interface. The query and retrieval systems has been tested with a Java-CDE window system, and on the x86 architecture using Windows NT 4.0. This paper describes the Java applet client search engine that queries the database; the Java client module that enables users to view anatomical images online; the Java application server interface to the database which organizes data returned to the user, and its distribution engine that allow users to download image files individually and/or in batch-mode.

  1. Robust microbubble tracking for super resolution imaging in ultrasound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Kristoffer B.; Villagómez Hoyos, Carlos Armando; Brasen, Jens Christian

    2016-01-01

    Currently ultrasound resolution is limited by diffraction to approximately half the wavelength of the sound wave employed. In recent years, super resolution imaging techniques have overcome the diffraction limit through the localization and tracking of a sparse set of microbubbles through...... the vasculature. However, this has only been performed on fixated tissue, limiting its clinical application. This paper proposes a technique for making super resolution images on non-fixated tissue by first compensating for tissue movement and then tracking the individual microbubbles. The experiment is performed...... on the kidney of a anesthetized Sprage-Dawley rat by infusing SonoVue at 0.1× original concentration. The algorithm demonstrated in vivo that the motion compensation was capable of removing the movement caused by the mechanical ventilator. The results shows that microbubbles were localized with a higher...

  2. Measurement of the position resolution of the Gas Pixel Detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soffitta, Paolo; Muleri, Fabio; Fabiani, Sergio; Costa, Enrico; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Brez, Alessandro; Minuti, Massimo; Pinchera, Michele; Spandre, Gloria

    2013-01-01

    The Gas Pixel Detector was designed and built as a focal plane instrument for X-ray polarimetry of celestial sources, the last unexplored subtopics of X-ray astronomy. It promises to perform detailed and sensitive measurements resolving extended sources and detecting polarization in faint sources in crowded fields at the focus of telescopes of good angular resolution. Its polarimetric and spectral capability were already studied in earlier works. Here we investigate for the first time, with both laboratory measurements and Monte Carlo simulations, its imaging properties to confirm its unique capability to carry out imaging spectral-polarimetry in future X-ray missions.

  3. High resolution reconstruction of PET images using the iterative OSEM algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doll, J.; Bublitz, O.; Werling, A.; Haberkorn, U.; Semmler, W.; Adam, L.E.; Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia, PA; Brix, G.

    2004-01-01

    Aim: Improvement of the spatial resolution in positron emission tomography (PET) by incorporation of the image-forming characteristics of the scanner into the process of iterative image reconstruction. Methods: All measurements were performed at the whole-body PET system ECAT EXACT HR + in 3D mode. The acquired 3D sinograms were sorted into 2D sinograms by means of the Fourier rebinning (FORE) algorithm, which allows the usage of 2D algorithms for image reconstruction. The scanner characteristics were described by a spatially variant line-spread function (LSF), which was determined from activated copper-64 line sources. This information was used to model the physical degradation processes in PET measurements during the course of 2D image reconstruction with the iterative OSEM algorithm. To assess the performance of the high-resolution OSEM algorithm, phantom measurements performed at a cylinder phantom, the hotspot Jaszczack phantom, and the 3D Hoffmann brain phantom as well as different patient examinations were analyzed. Results: Scanner characteristics could be described by a Gaussian-shaped LSF with a full-width at half-maximum increasing from 4.8 mm at the center to 5.5 mm at a radial distance of 10.5 cm. Incorporation of the LSF into the iteration formula resulted in a markedly improved resolution of 3.0 and 3.5 mm, respectively. The evaluation of phantom and patient studies showed that the high-resolution OSEM algorithm not only lead to a better contrast resolution in the reconstructed activity distributions but also to an improved accuracy in the quantification of activity concentrations in small structures without leading to an amplification of image noise or even the occurrence of image artifacts. Conclusion: The spatial and contrast resolution of PET scans can markedly be improved by the presented image restauration algorithm, which is of special interest for the examination of both patients with brain disorders and small animals. (orig.)

  4. Effect of image resolution manipulation in rearfoot angle measurements obtained with photogrammetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sacco, I C N; Picon, A P; Ribeiro, A P; Sartor, C D; Camargo-Junior, F; Macedo, D O; Mori, E T T; Monte, F; Yamate, G Y; Neves, J G; Kondo, V E; Aliberti, S

    2012-09-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of image resolution manipulation on the photogrammetric measurement of the rearfoot static angle. The study design was that of a reliability study. We evaluated 19 healthy young adults (11 females and 8 males). The photographs were taken at 1536 pixels in the greatest dimension, resized into four different resolutions (1200, 768, 600, 384 pixels) and analyzed by three equally trained examiners on a 96-pixels per inch (ppi) screen. An experienced physiotherapist marked the anatomic landmarks of rearfoot static angles on two occasions within a 1-week interval. Three different examiners had marked angles on digital pictures. The systematic error and the smallest detectable difference were calculated from the angle values between the image resolutions and times of evaluation. Different resolutions were compared by analysis of variance. Inter- and intra-examiner reliability was calculated by intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). The rearfoot static angles obtained by the examiners in each resolution were not different (P > 0.05); however, the higher the image resolution the better the inter-examiner reliability. The intra-examiner reliability (within a 1-week interval) was considered to be unacceptable for all image resolutions (ICC range: 0.08-0.52). The whole body image of an adult with a minimum size of 768 pixels analyzed on a 96-ppi screen can provide very good inter-examiner reliability for photogrammetric measurements of rearfoot static angles (ICC range: 0.85-0.92), although the intra-examiner reliability within each resolution was not acceptable. Therefore, this method is not a proper tool for follow-up evaluations of patients within a therapeutic protocol.

  5. Influence of total beam current on HRTEM image resolution in differentially pumped ETEM with nitrogen gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bright, A.N.; Yoshida, K.; Tanaka, N.

    2013-01-01

    Environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) enables the study of catalytic and other reaction processes as they occur with Angstrom-level resolution. The microscope used is a dedicated ETEM (Titan ETEM, FEI Company) with a differential pumping vacuum system and apertures, allowing aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging to be performed with gas pressures up to 20 mbar in the sample area and with significant advantages over membrane-type E-cell holders. The effect on image resolution of varying the nitrogen gas pressure, electron beam current density and total beam current were measured using information limit (Young's fringes) on a standard cross grating sample and from silicon crystal lattice imaging. As expected, increasing gas pressure causes a decrease in HRTEM image resolution. However, the total electron beam current also causes big changes in the image resolution (lower beam current giving better resolution), whereas varying the beam current density has almost no effect on resolution, a result that has not been reported previously. This behavior is seen even with zero-loss filtered imaging, which we believe shows that the drop in resolution is caused by elastic scattering at gas ions created by the incident electron beam. Suitable conditions for acquiring high resolution images in a gas environment are discussed. Lattice images at nitrogen pressures up to 16 mbar are shown, with 0.12 nm information transfer at 4 mbar. -- Highlights: ► ETEM images with point resolution of 0.12 nm in 4 mbar of nitrogen gas. ► Clear Si lattice imaging with 16 mbar of nitrogen gas. ► ETEM image resolution in gas can be much improved by decreasing total beam current. ► Beam current density (beam convergence) has no effect on the image resolution.

  6. Super resolution reconstruction of μ-CT image of rock sample using neighbour embedding algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yuzhu; Rahman, Sheik S.; Arns, Christoph H.

    2018-03-01

    X-ray computed tomography (μ-CT) is considered to be the most effective way to obtain the inner structure of rock sample without destructions. However, its limited resolution hampers its ability to probe sub-micro structures which is critical for flow transportation of rock sample. In this study, we propose an innovative methodology to improve the resolution of μ-CT image using neighbour embedding algorithm where low frequency information is provided by μ-CT image itself while high frequency information is supplemented by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image. In order to obtain prior for reconstruction, a large number of image patch pairs contain high- and low- image patches are extracted from the Gaussian image pyramid generated by SEM image. These image patch pairs contain abundant information about tomographic evolution of local porous structures under different resolution spaces. Relying on the assumption of self-similarity of porous structure, this prior information can be used to supervise the reconstruction of high resolution μ-CT image effectively. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to achieve the state-of-the-art performance.

  7. 3D super-resolution imaging with blinking quantum dots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yong; Fruhwirth, Gilbert; Cai, En; Ng, Tony; Selvin, Paul R.

    2013-01-01

    Quantum dots are promising candidates for single molecule imaging due to their exceptional photophysical properties, including their intense brightness and resistance to photobleaching. They are also notorious for their blinking. Here we report a novel way to take advantage of quantum dot blinking to develop an imaging technique in three-dimensions with nanometric resolution. We first applied this method to simulated images of quantum dots, and then to quantum dots immobilized on microspheres. We achieved imaging resolutions (FWHM) of 8–17 nm in the x-y plane and 58 nm (on coverslip) or 81 nm (deep in solution) in the z-direction, approximately 3–7 times better than what has been achieved previously with quantum dots. This approach was applied to resolve the 3D distribution of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) molecules at, and inside of, the plasma membrane of resting basal breast cancer cells. PMID:24093439

  8. High resolution ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging of single cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric M. Strohm

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available High resolution ultrasound and photoacoustic images of stained neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes from a blood smear were acquired using a combined acoustic/photoacoustic microscope. Photoacoustic images were created using a pulsed 532 nm laser that was coupled to a single mode fiber to produce output wavelengths from 532 nm to 620 nm via stimulated Raman scattering. The excitation wavelength was selected using optical filters and focused onto the sample using a 20× objective. A 1000 MHz transducer was co-aligned with the laser spot and used for ultrasound and photoacoustic images, enabling micrometer resolution with both modalities. The different cell types could be easily identified due to variations in contrast within the acoustic and photoacoustic images. This technique provides a new way of probing leukocyte structure with potential applications towards detecting cellular abnormalities and diseased cells at the single cell level.

  9. The photon angular momentum controversy: Resolution of a conflict between laser optics and particle physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leader, Elliot, E-mail: e.leader@imperial.ac.uk

    2016-05-10

    The claim some years ago, contrary to all textbooks, that the angular momentum of a photon (and gluon) can be split in a gauge-invariant way into an orbital and spin term, sparked a major controversy in the Particle Physics community, exacerbated by the realization that many different forms of the angular momentum operators are, in principle, possible. A further cause of upset was the realization that the gluon polarization in a nucleon, a supposedly physically meaningful quantity, corresponds only to the gauge-variant gluon spin derived from Noether's theorem, evaluated in a particular gauge. On the contrary, Laser Physicists have, for decades, been happily measuring physical quantities which correspond to photon orbital and spin angular momentum evaluated in a particular gauge. This paper reconciles the two points of view, and shows that it is the gauge invariant version of the canonical angular momentum which agrees with the results of a host of laser optics experiments.

  10. Quantum entanglement of high angular momenta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fickler, Robert; Lapkiewicz, Radek; Plick, William N; Krenn, Mario; Schaeff, Christoph; Ramelow, Sven; Zeilinger, Anton

    2012-11-02

    Single photons with helical phase structures may carry a quantized amount of orbital angular momentum (OAM), and their entanglement is important for quantum information science and fundamental tests of quantum theory. Because there is no theoretical upper limit on how many quanta of OAM a single photon can carry, it is possible to create entanglement between two particles with an arbitrarily high difference in quantum number. By transferring polarization entanglement to OAM with an interferometric scheme, we generate and verify entanglement between two photons differing by 600 in quantum number. The only restrictive factors toward higher numbers are current technical limitations. We also experimentally demonstrate that the entanglement of very high OAM can improve the sensitivity of angular resolution in remote sensing.

  11. High resolution microphotonic needle for endoscopic imaging (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tadayon, Mohammad Amin; Mohanty, Aseema; Roberts, Samantha P.; Barbosa, Felippe; Lipson, Michal

    2017-02-01

    GRIN (Graded index) lens have revolutionized micro endoscopy enabling deep tissue imaging with high resolution. The challenges of traditional GRIN lenses are their large size (when compared with the field of view) and their limited resolution. This is because of the relatively weak NA in standard graded index lenses. Here we introduce a novel micro-needle platform for endoscopy with much higher resolution than traditional GRIN lenses and a FOV that corresponds to the whole cross section of the needle. The platform is based on polymeric (SU-8) waveguide integrated with a microlens micro fabricated on a silicon substrate using a unique molding process. Due to the high index of refraction of the material the NA of the needle is much higher than traditional GRIN lenses. We tested the probe in a fluorescent dye solution (19.6 µM Alexa Flour 647 solution) and measured a numerical aperture of 0.25, focal length of about 175 µm and minimal spot size of about 1.6 µm. We show that the platform can image a sample with the field of view corresponding to the cross sectional area of the waveguide (80x100 µm2). The waveguide size can in principle be modified to vary size of the imaging field of view. This demonstration, combined with our previous work demonstrating our ability to implant the high NA needle in a live animal, shows that the proposed system can be used for deep tissue imaging with very high resolution and high field of view.

  12. Gas scintillation glass GEM detector for high-resolution X-ray imaging and CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujiwara, T., E-mail: fujiwara-t@aist.go.jp [Research Institute for Measurement and Analytical Instrumentation, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568 (Japan); Mitsuya, Y. [Nuclear Professional School, The University of Tokyo, Tokai, Naka, Ibaraki 319-1188 (Japan); Fushie, T. [Radiment Lab. Inc., Setagaya, Tokyo 156-0044 (Japan); Murata, K.; Kawamura, A.; Koishikawa, A. [XIT Co., Naruse, Machida, Tokyo 194-0045 (Japan); Toyokawa, H. [Research Institute for Measurement and Analytical Instrumentation, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8568 (Japan); Takahashi, H. [Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8654 (Japan)

    2017-04-01

    A high-spatial-resolution X-ray-imaging gaseous detector has been developed with a single high-gas-gain glass gas electron multiplier (G-GEM), scintillation gas, and optical camera. High-resolution X-ray imaging of soft elements is performed with a spatial resolution of 281 µm rms and an effective area of 100×100 mm. In addition, high-resolution X-ray 3D computed tomography (CT) is successfully demonstrated with the gaseous detector. It shows high sensitivity to low-energy X-rays, which results in high-contrast radiographs of objects containing elements with low atomic numbers. In addition, the high yield of scintillation light enables fast X-ray imaging, which is an advantage for constructing CT images with low-energy X-rays.

  13. High-resolution CCD imaging alternatives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, D. L.; Acker, D. E.

    1992-08-01

    High resolution CCD color cameras have recently stimulated the interest of a large number of potential end-users for a wide range of practical applications. Real-time High Definition Television (HDTV) systems are now being used or considered for use in applications ranging from entertainment program origination through digital image storage to medical and scientific research. HDTV generation of electronic images offers significant cost and time-saving advantages over the use of film in such applications. Further in still image systems electronic image capture is faster and more efficient than conventional image scanners. The CCD still camera can capture 3-dimensional objects into the computing environment directly without having to shoot a picture on film develop it and then scan the image into a computer. 2. EXTENDING CCD TECHNOLOGY BEYOND BROADCAST Most standard production CCD sensor chips are made for broadcast-compatible systems. One popular CCD and the basis for this discussion offers arrays of roughly 750 x 580 picture elements (pixels) or a total array of approximately 435 pixels (see Fig. 1). FOR. A has developed a technique to increase the number of available pixels for a given image compared to that produced by the standard CCD itself. Using an inter-lined CCD with an overall spatial structure several times larger than the photo-sensitive sensor areas each of the CCD sensors is shifted in two dimensions in order to fill in spatial gaps between adjacent sensors.

  14. Confocal pore size measurement based on super-resolution image restoration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Dali; Wang, Yun; Qiu, Lirong; Mao, Xinyue; Zhao, Weiqian

    2014-09-01

    A confocal pore size measurement based on super-resolution image restoration is proposed to obtain a fast and accurate measurement for submicrometer pore size of nuclear track-etched membranes (NTEMs). This method facilitates the online inspection of the pore size evolution during etching. Combining confocal microscopy with super-resolution image restoration significantly improves the lateral resolution of the NTEM image, yields a reasonable circle edge-setting criterion of 0.2408, and achieves precise pore edge detection. Theoretical analysis shows that the minimum measuring diameter can reach 0.19 μm, and the root mean square of the residuals is only 1.4 nm. Edge response simulation and experiment reveal that the edge response of the proposed method is better than 80 nm. The NTEM pore size measurement results obtained by the proposed method agree well with that obtained by scanning electron microscopy.

  15. High-Resolution 3T MR Imaging of the Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Borstel, Donald; Wang, Michael; Small, Kirstin; Nozaki, Taiki; Yoshioka, Hiroshi

    2017-01-10

    This study is intended as a review of 3Tesla (T) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC). The recent advances in MR imaging, which includes high field strength magnets, multi-channel coils, and isotropic 3-dimensional (3D) sequences have enabled the visualization of precise TFCC anatomy with high spatial and contrast resolution. In addition to the routine wrist protocol, there are specific techniques used to optimize 3T imaging of the wrist; including driven equilibrium sequence (DRIVE), parallel imaging, and 3D imaging. The coil choice for 3T imaging of the wrist depends on a number of variables, and the proper coil design selection is critical for high-resolution wrist imaging with high signal and contrast-to-noise ratio. The TFCC is a complex structure and is composed of the articular disc (disc proper), the triangular ligament, the dorsal and volar radioulnar ligaments, the meniscus homologue, the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendon sheath, and the ulnolunate and ulnotriquetral ligaments. The Palmer classification categorizes TFCC lesions as traumatic (type 1) or degenerative (type 2). In this review article, we present clinical high-resolution MR images of normal TFCC anatomy and TFCC injuries with this classification system.

  16. MULTI-SCALE SEGMENTATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION REMOTE SENSING IMAGES BY INTEGRATING MULTIPLE FEATURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Di

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Most of multi-scale segmentation algorithms are not aiming at high resolution remote sensing images and have difficulty to communicate and use layers’ information. In view of them, we proposes a method of multi-scale segmentation of high resolution remote sensing images by integrating multiple features. First, Canny operator is used to extract edge information, and then band weighted distance function is built to obtain the edge weight. According to the criterion, the initial segmentation objects of color images can be gained by Kruskal minimum spanning tree algorithm. Finally segmentation images are got by the adaptive rule of Mumford–Shah region merging combination with spectral and texture information. The proposed method is evaluated precisely using analog images and ZY-3 satellite images through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The experimental results show that the multi-scale segmentation of high resolution remote sensing images by integrating multiple features outperformed the software eCognition fractal network evolution algorithm (highest-resolution network evolution that FNEA on the accuracy and slightly inferior to FNEA on the efficiency.

  17. High-resolution 3D imaging of polymerized photonic crystals by lab-based x-ray nanotomography with 50-nm resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Leilei; Chen, Ying-Chieh; Gelb, Jeff; Stevenson, Darren M.; Braun, Paul A.

    2010-09-01

    High resolution x-ray computed tomography is a powerful non-destructive 3-D imaging method. It can offer superior resolution on objects that are opaque or low contrast for optical microscopy. Synchrotron based x-ray computed tomography systems have been available for scientific research, but remain difficult to access for broader users. This work introduces a lab-based high-resolution x-ray nanotomography system with 50nm resolution in absorption and Zernike phase contrast modes. Using this system, we have demonstrated high quality 3-D images of polymerized photonic crystals which have been analyzed for band gap structures. The isotropic volumetric data shows excellent consistency with other characterization results.

  18. Muon tomography imaging improvement using optimized limited angle data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Chuanyong; Simon, Sean; Kindem, Joel; Luo, Weidong; Sossong, Michael J.; Steiger, Matthew

    2014-05-01

    Image resolution of muon tomography is limited by the range of zenith angles of cosmic ray muons and the flux rate at sea level. Low flux rate limits the use of advanced data rebinning and processing techniques to improve image quality. By optimizing the limited angle data, however, image resolution can be improved. To demonstrate the idea, physical data of tungsten blocks were acquired on a muon tomography system. The angular distribution and energy spectrum of muons measured on the system was also used to generate simulation data of tungsten blocks of different arrangement (geometry). The data were grouped into subsets using the zenith angle and volume images were reconstructed from the data subsets using two algorithms. One was a distributed PoCA (point of closest approach) algorithm and the other was an accelerated iterative maximal likelihood/expectation maximization (MLEM) algorithm. Image resolution was compared for different subsets. Results showed that image resolution was better in the vertical direction for subsets with greater zenith angles and better in the horizontal plane for subsets with smaller zenith angles. The overall image resolution appeared to be the compromise of that of different subsets. This work suggests that the acquired data can be grouped into different limited angle data subsets for optimized image resolution in desired directions. Use of multiple images with resolution optimized in different directions can improve overall imaging fidelity and the intended applications.

  19. Rapid calibrated high-resolution hyperspectral imaging using tunable laser source

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Lam K.; Margalith, Eli

    2009-05-01

    We present a novel hyperspectral imaging technique based on tunable laser technology. By replacing the broadband source and tunable filters of a typical NIR imaging instrument, several advantages are realized, including: high spectral resolution, highly variable field-of-views, fast scan-rates, high signal-to-noise ratio, and the ability to use optical fiber for efficient and flexible sample illumination. With this technique, high-resolution, calibrated hyperspectral images over the NIR range can be acquired in seconds. The performance of system features will be demonstrated on two example applications: detecting melamine contamination in wheat gluten and separating bovine protein from wheat protein in cattle feed.

  20. Introduction to the virtual special issue on super-resolution imaging techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Liangcai; Liu, Zhengjun

    2017-12-01

    Until quite recently, the resolution of optical imaging instruments, including telescopes, cameras and microscopes, was considered to be limited by the diffraction of light and by image sensors. In the past few years, many exciting super-resolution approaches have emerged that demonstrate intriguing ways to bypass the classical limit in optics and detectors. More and more research groups are engaged in the study of advanced super-resolution schemes, devices, algorithms, systems, and applications [1-6]. Super-resolution techniques involve new methods in science and engineering of optics [7,8], measurements [9,10], chemistry [11,12] and information [13,14]. Promising applications, particularly in biomedical research and semiconductor industry, have been successfully demonstrated.

  1. The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Extragalactic Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coppi, Paolo S.; Extragalactic Science Working Group; AGIS Collaboration

    2010-03-01

    The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS), a proposed next-generation array of Cherenkov telescopes, will provide an unprecedented view of the high energy universe. We discuss how AGIS, with its larger effective area, improved angular resolution, lower threshold, and an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity, impacts the extragalactic science possible in the very high energy domain. Likely source classes detectable by AGIS include AGN, GRBs, clusters, star-forming galaxies, and possibly the cascade radiation surrounding powerful cosmic accelerators. AGIS should see many of the sources discovered by Fermi. With its better sensitivity and angular resolution, AGIS then becomes a key instrument for identifying and characterizing Fermi survey sources, the majority of which will have limited Fermi photon statistics and localizations.

  2. High resolution axicon-based endoscopic FD OCT imaging with a large depth range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kye-Sung; Hurley, William; Deegan, John; Dean, Scott; Rolland, Jannick P.

    2010-02-01

    Endoscopic imaging in tubular structures, such as the tracheobronchial tree, could benefit from imaging optics with an extended depth of focus (DOF). This optics could accommodate for varying sizes of tubular structures across patients and along the tree within a single patient. In the paper, we demonstrate an extended DOF without sacrificing resolution showing rotational images in biological tubular samples with 2.5 μm axial resolution, 10 ìm lateral resolution, and > 4 mm depth range using a custom designed probe.

  3. Adaptive optics with pupil tracking for high resolution retinal imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahin, Betul; Lamory, Barbara; Levecq, Xavier; Harms, Fabrice; Dainty, Chris

    2012-02-01

    Adaptive optics, when integrated into retinal imaging systems, compensates for rapidly changing ocular aberrations in real time and results in improved high resolution images that reveal the photoreceptor mosaic. Imaging the retina at high resolution has numerous potential medical applications, and yet for the development of commercial products that can be used in the clinic, the complexity and high cost of the present research systems have to be addressed. We present a new method to control the deformable mirror in real time based on pupil tracking measurements which uses the default camera for the alignment of the eye in the retinal imaging system and requires no extra cost or hardware. We also present the first experiments done with a compact adaptive optics flood illumination fundus camera where it was possible to compensate for the higher order aberrations of a moving model eye and in vivo in real time based on pupil tracking measurements, without the real time contribution of a wavefront sensor. As an outcome of this research, we showed that pupil tracking can be effectively used as a low cost and practical adaptive optics tool for high resolution retinal imaging because eye movements constitute an important part of the ocular wavefront dynamics.

  4. High resolution x-ray lensless imaging by differential holographic encoding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, D.; Guizar-Sicairos, M.; Wu, B.; Scherz, A.; Acremann, Y.; Tylisczcak, T.; Fischer, P.; Friedenberger, N.; Ollefs, K.; Farle, M.; Fienup, J. R.; Stohr, J.

    2009-11-02

    X-ray free electron lasers (X-FEL{sub s}) will soon offer femtosecond pulses of laterally coherent x-rays with sufficient intensity to record single-shot coherent scattering patterns for nanoscale imaging. Pulse trains created by splitand-delay techniques even open the door for cinematography on unprecedented nanometer length and femtosecond time scales. A key to real space ultrafast motion pictures is fast and reliable inversion of the recorded reciprocal space scattering patterns. Here we for the first time demonstrate in the x-ray regime the power of a novel technique for lensless high resolution imaging, previously suggested by Guizar-Sicairos and Fienup termed holography with extended reference by autocorrelation linear differential operation, HERALD0. We have achieved superior resolution over conventional x-ray Fourier transform holography (FTH) without sacrifices in SNR or significant increase in algorithmic complexity. By combining images obtained from individual sharp features on an extended reference, we further show that the resolution can be even extended beyond the reference fabrication limits. Direct comparison to iterative phase retrieval image reconstruction and images recorded with stateof- the-art zone plate microscopes is presented. Our results demonstrate the power of HERALDO as a favorable candidate for robust inversion of single-shot coherent scattering patterns.

  5. High-Resolution X-Ray Lensless Imaging by Differential Holographic Encoding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Diling [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Inst. for Material and Energy Science; Guizar-Sicairos, Manuel [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Inst. of Optics; Wu, Benny [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Inst. for Material and Energy Science; Scherz, Andreas [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Inst. for Material and Energy Science; Acremann, Yves [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Photon Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering Inst. (PULSE); Tyliszczak, Tolek [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); Fischer, Peter [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Center for X-ray Optics; Friedenberger, Nina [Universitat Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Dept. of Physics and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE); Ollefs, Katharina [Universitat Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Dept. of Physics and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE); Farle, Michael [Universitat Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Dept. of Physics and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE); Fienup, James R. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Inst. of Optics; Stöhr, Joachim [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

    2010-07-01

    X-ray free electron lasers (X-FELs) will soon offer femtosecond pulses of laterally coherent x-rays with sufficient intensity to record single-shot coherent scattering patterns for nanoscale imaging. Pulse trains created by split and- delay techniques even open the door for cinematography on unprecedented nanometer length and femtosecond time scales. A key to real space ultrafast motion pictures is fast and reliable inversion of the recorded reciprocal space scattering patterns. Here we for the first time demonstrate in the x-ray regime the power of a novel technique for lensless high resolution imaging, previously suggested by Guizar-Sicairos and Fienup termed holography with extended reference by autocorrelation linear differential operation, HERALD0. We have achieved superior resolution over conventional x-ray Fourier transform holography (FTH) without sacrifices in SNR or significant increase in algorithmic complexity. By combining images obtained from individual sharp features on an extended reference, we further show that the resolution can be even extended beyond the reference fabrication limits. Direct comparison to iterative phase retrieval image reconstruction and images recorded with state of-the-art zone plate microscopes is presented. Our results demonstrate the power of HERALDO as a favorable candidate for robust inversion of single-shot coherent scattering patterns.

  6. Advances in high-resolution imaging--techniques for three-dimensional imaging of cellular structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lidke, Diane S; Lidke, Keith A

    2012-06-01

    A fundamental goal in biology is to determine how cellular organization is coupled to function. To achieve this goal, a better understanding of organelle composition and structure is needed. Although visualization of cellular organelles using fluorescence or electron microscopy (EM) has become a common tool for the cell biologist, recent advances are providing a clearer picture of the cell than ever before. In particular, advanced light-microscopy techniques are achieving resolutions below the diffraction limit and EM tomography provides high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) images of cellular structures. The ability to perform both fluorescence and electron microscopy on the same sample (correlative light and electron microscopy, CLEM) makes it possible to identify where a fluorescently labeled protein is located with respect to organelle structures visualized by EM. Here, we review the current state of the art in 3D biological imaging techniques with a focus on recent advances in electron microscopy and fluorescence super-resolution techniques.

  7. Evaluation of deep neural networks for single image super-resolution in a maritime context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nieuwenhuizen, R.P.J.; Kruithof, M.; Schutte, K.

    2017-01-01

    High resolution imagery is of crucial importance for the performance on visual recognition tasks. Super-resolution (SR) reconstruction algorithms aim to enhance the image resolution beyond the capability of the image sensor being used. Traditional SR algorithms approach this inverse problem using

  8. Detection of pulmonary nodules on lung X-ray images. Studies on multi-resolutional filter and energy subtraction images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sawada, Akira; Sato, Yoshinobu; Kido, Shoji; Tamura, Shinichi

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to prove the effectiveness of an energy subtraction image for the detection of pulmonary nodules and the effectiveness of multi-resolutional filter on an energy subtraction image to detect pulmonary nodules. Also we study influential factors to the accuracy of detection of pulmonary nodules from viewpoints of types of images, types of digital filters and types of evaluation methods. As one type of images, we select an energy subtraction image, which removes bones such as ribs from the conventional X-ray image by utilizing the difference of X-ray absorption ratios at different energy between bones and soft tissue. Ribs and vessels are major causes of CAD errors in detection of pulmonary nodules and many researches have tried to solve this problem. So we select conventional X-ray images and energy subtraction X-ray images as types of images, and at the same time select ∇ 2 G (Laplacian of Guassian) filter, Min-DD (Minimum Directional Difference) filter and our multi-resolutional filter as types of digital filters. Also we select two evaluation methods and prove the effectiveness of an energy subtraction image, the effectiveness of Min-DD filter on a conventional X-ray image and the effectiveness of multi-resolutional filter on an energy subtraction image. (author)

  9. Solving the problem of imaging resolution: stochastic multi-scale image fusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karsanina, Marina; Mallants, Dirk; Gilyazetdinova, Dina; Gerke, Kiril

    2016-04-01

    Structural features of porous materials define the majority of its physical properties, including water infiltration and redistribution, multi-phase flow (e.g. simultaneous water/air flow, gas exchange between biologically active soil root zone and atmosphere, etc.) and solute transport. To characterize soil and rock microstructure X-ray microtomography is extremely useful. However, as any other imaging technique, this one also has a significant drawback - a trade-off between sample size and resolution. The latter is a significant problem for multi-scale complex structures, especially such as soils and carbonates. Other imaging techniques, for example, SEM/FIB-SEM or X-ray macrotomography can be helpful in obtaining higher resolution or wider field of view. The ultimate goal is to create a single dataset containing information from all scales or to characterize such multi-scale structure. In this contribution we demonstrate a general solution for merging multiscale categorical spatial data into a single dataset using stochastic reconstructions with rescaled correlation functions. The versatility of the method is demonstrated by merging three images representing macro, micro and nanoscale spatial information on porous media structure. Images obtained by X-ray microtomography and scanning electron microscopy were fused into a single image with predefined resolution. The methodology is sufficiently generic for implementation of other stochastic reconstruction techniques, any number of scales, any number of material phases, and any number of images for a given scale. The methodology can be further used to assess effective properties of fused porous media images or to compress voluminous spatial datasets for efficient data storage. Potential practical applications of this method are abundant in soil science, hydrology and petroleum engineering, as well as other geosciences. This work was partially supported by RSF grant 14-17-00658 (X-ray microtomography study of shale

  10. Spacecraft angular velocity estimation algorithm for star tracker based on optical flow techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Yujie; Li, Jian; Wang, Gangyi

    2018-02-01

    An integrated navigation system often uses the traditional gyro and star tracker for high precision navigation with the shortcomings of large volume, heavy weight and high-cost. With the development of autonomous navigation for deep space and small spacecraft, star tracker has been gradually used for attitude calculation and angular velocity measurement directly. At the same time, with the dynamic imaging requirements of remote sensing satellites and other imaging satellites, how to measure the angular velocity in the dynamic situation to improve the accuracy of the star tracker is the hotspot of future research. We propose the approach to measure angular rate with a nongyro and improve the dynamic performance of the star tracker. First, the star extraction algorithm based on morphology is used to extract the star region, and the stars in the two images are matched according to the method of angular distance voting. The calculation of the displacement of the star image is measured by the improved optical flow method. Finally, the triaxial angular velocity of the star tracker is calculated by the star vector using the least squares method. The method has the advantages of fast matching speed, strong antinoise ability, and good dynamic performance. The triaxial angular velocity of star tracker can be obtained accurately with these methods. So, the star tracker can achieve better tracking performance and dynamic attitude positioning accuracy to lay a good foundation for the wide application of various satellites and complex space missions.

  11. The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) Telescope Mechanical and Optical System Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrum, Karen L.; Vassiliev, V.; AGIS Collaboration

    2010-03-01

    AGIS is a concept for the next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory. It will be an array of 36 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) sensitive in the energy range from 50 GeV to 200 TeV. The required improvements in sensitivity, angular resolution, and reliability of operation relative to the present generation instruments imposes demanding technological and cost requirements on the design of AGIS telescopes. In this submission, we outline the status of the development of the optical and mechanical systems for a novel Schwarzschild-Couder two-mirror aplanatic telescope. This design can provide a field of view and angular resolution significantly better to those offered by the traditional Davies-Cotton optics utilized in present-day IACTs. Other benefits of the novel design include isochronous focusing and compatibility with cost-effective, high quantum efficiency image sensors such as multi-anode PMTs, silicon PMTs (SiPMs), or image intensifiers.

  12. High resolution NMR imaging using a high field yokeless permanent magnet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kose, Katsumi; Haishi, Tomoyuki

    2011-01-01

    We measured the homogeneity and stability of the magnetic field of a high field (about 1.04 tesla) yokeless permanent magnet with 40-mm gap for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging. Homogeneity was evaluated using a 3-dimensional (3D) lattice phantom and 3D spin-echo imaging sequences. In the central sphere (20-mm diameter), peak-to-peak magnetic field inhomogeneity was about 60 ppm, and the root-mean-square was 8 ppm. We measured room temperature, magnet temperature, and NMR frequency of the magnet simultaneously every minute for about 68 hours with and without the thermal insulator of the magnet. A simple mathematical model described the magnet's thermal property. Based on magnet performance, we performed high resolution (up to [20 µm](2)) imaging with internal NMR lock sequences of several biological samples. Our results demonstrated the usefulness of the high field small yokeless permanent magnet for high resolution NMR imaging.

  13. High resolution NMR imaging using a high field yokeless permanent magnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kose, Katsumi; Haishi, Tomoyuki

    2011-01-01

    We measured the homogeneity and stability of the magnetic field of a high field (about 1.04 tesla) yokeless permanent magnet with 40-mm gap for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging. Homogeneity was evaluated using a 3-dimensional (3D) lattice phantom and 3D spin-echo imaging sequences. In the central sphere (20-mm diameter), peak-to-peak magnetic field inhomogeneity was about 60 ppm, and the root-mean-square was 8 ppm. We measured room temperature, magnet temperature, and NMR frequency of the magnet simultaneously every minute for about 68 hours with and without the thermal insulator of the magnet. A simple mathematical model described the magnet's thermal property. Based on magnet performance, we performed high resolution (up to [20 μm] 2 ) imaging with internal NMR lock sequences of several biological samples. Our results demonstrated the usefulness of the high field small yokeless permanent magnet for high resolution NMR imaging. (author)

  14. Study of fish response using particle image velocimetry and high-speed, high-resolution imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Z. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Richmond, M. C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Mueller, R. P. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gruensch, G. R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2004-10-01

    Fish swimming has fascinated both engineers and fish biologists for decades. Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and high-speed, high-resolution digital imaging are recently developed analysis tools that can help engineers and biologists better understand how fish respond to turbulent environments. This report details studies to evaluate DPIV. The studies included a review of existing literature on DPIV, preliminary studies to test the feasibility of using DPIV conducted at our Flow Biology Laboratory in Richland, Washington September through December 2003, and applications of high-speed, high-resolution digital imaging with advanced motion analysis to investigations of fish injury mechanisms in turbulent shear flows and bead trajectories in laboratory physical models. Several conclusions were drawn based on these studies, which are summarized as recommendations for proposed research at the end of this report.

  15. Multiplexing storage using angular variation in a transmission holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Eun-Hee; Jung, Yeon-Gil, E-mail: jungyg@changwon.ac.kr

    2015-12-01

    Simultaneous angular multiplexing of transmission gratings in a holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) film as a function of resin and film compositions, irradiation intensity, and cell thickness has been studied by exposing the material to three coherent laser beams. It was found that the diffraction efficiency monotonically increases with irradiation intensity and cell gap, whereas a maximum of 43% is obtained at specific compositions of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA)/N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) = 8/1 and polymer/LC = 65/35. The multiplexed gratings have been captured using SEM imaging and the reconstructed images using a charge-coupled device camera, showing successful reconstructed images of gratings. - Highlights: • Multiplex images were well recorded using simultaneous angular method. • The periodic structures of the LC and polymer regions were well prepared. • The angular selectivity was variable nevertheless fabrication by three beams. • The images were successfully reconstructed in gratings of same spot.

  16. Multiplexing storage using angular variation in a transmission holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Eun-Hee; Jung, Yeon-Gil

    2015-01-01

    Simultaneous angular multiplexing of transmission gratings in a holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) film as a function of resin and film compositions, irradiation intensity, and cell thickness has been studied by exposing the material to three coherent laser beams. It was found that the diffraction efficiency monotonically increases with irradiation intensity and cell gap, whereas a maximum of 43% is obtained at specific compositions of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA)/N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) = 8/1 and polymer/LC = 65/35. The multiplexed gratings have been captured using SEM imaging and the reconstructed images using a charge-coupled device camera, showing successful reconstructed images of gratings. - Highlights: • Multiplex images were well recorded using simultaneous angular method. • The periodic structures of the LC and polymer regions were well prepared. • The angular selectivity was variable nevertheless fabrication by three beams. • The images were successfully reconstructed in gratings of same spot.

  17. High-resolution 3D X-ray imaging of intracranial nitinol stents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snoeren, Rudolph M.; With, Peter H.N. de; Soederman, Michael; Kroon, Johannes N.; Roijers, Ruben B.; Babic, Drazenko

    2012-01-01

    To assess an optimized 3D imaging protocol for intracranial nitinol stents in 3D C-arm flat detector imaging. For this purpose, an image quality simulation and an in vitro study was carried out. Nitinol stents of various brands were placed inside an anthropomorphic head phantom, using iodine contrast. Experiments with objects were preceded by image quality and dose simulations. We varied X-ray imaging parameters in a commercially interventional X-ray system to set 3D image quality in the contrast-noise-sharpness space. Beam quality was varied to evaluate contrast of the stents while keeping absorbed dose below recommended values. Two detector formats were used, paired with an appropriate pixel size and X-ray focus size. Zoomed reconstructions were carried out and snapshot images acquired. High contrast spatial resolution was assessed with a CT phantom. We found an optimal protocol for imaging intracranial nitinol stents. Contrast resolution was optimized for nickel-titanium-containing stents. A high spatial resolution larger than 2.1 lp/mm allows struts to be visualized. We obtained images of stents of various brands and a representative set of images is shown. Independent of the make, struts can be imaged with virtually continuous strokes. Measured absorbed doses are shown to be lower than 50 mGy Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDI). By balancing the modulation transfer of the imaging components and tuning the high-contrast imaging capabilities, we have shown that thin nitinol stent wires can be reconstructed with high contrast-to-noise ratio and good detail, while keeping radiation doses within recommended values. Experimental results compare well with imaging simulations. (orig.)

  18. Automated Segmentation of High-Resolution Photospheric Images of Active Regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Meng; Tian, Yu; Rao, Changhui

    2018-02-01

    Due to the development of ground-based, large-aperture solar telescopes with adaptive optics (AO) resulting in increasing resolving ability, more accurate sunspot identifications and characterizations are required. In this article, we have developed a set of automated segmentation methods for high-resolution solar photospheric images. Firstly, a local-intensity-clustering level-set method is applied to roughly separate solar granulation and sunspots. Then reinitialization-free level-set evolution is adopted to adjust the boundaries of the photospheric patch; an adaptive intensity threshold is used to discriminate between umbra and penumbra; light bridges are selected according to their regional properties from candidates produced by morphological operations. The proposed method is applied to the solar high-resolution TiO 705.7-nm images taken by the 151-element AO system and Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics prototype system at the 1-m New Vacuum Solar Telescope of the Yunnan Observatory. Experimental results show that the method achieves satisfactory robustness and efficiency with low computational cost on high-resolution images. The method could also be applied to full-disk images, and the calculated sunspot areas correlate well with the data given by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

  19. The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) SMEX Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christe, S.; Shih, A. Y.; Krucker, S.; Glesener, L.; Saint-Hilaire, P.; Caspi, A.; Allred, J. C.; Battaglia, M.; Chen, B.; Drake, J. F.; Gary, D. E.; Goetz, K.; Gburek, S.; Grefenstette, B.; Hannah, I. G.; Holman, G.; Hudson, H. S.; Inglis, A. R.; Ireland, J.; Ishikawa, S. N.; Klimchuk, J. A.; Kontar, E.; Kowalski, A. F.; Massone, A. M.; Piana, M.; Ramsey, B.; Schwartz, R.; Steslicki, M.; Turin, P.; Ryan, D.; Warmuth, A.; Veronig, A.; Vilmer, N.; White, S. M.; Woods, T. N.

    2017-12-01

    We present FOXSI (Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager), a Small Explorer (SMEX) Heliophysics mission that is currently undergoing a Phase A concept study. FOXSI will provide a revolutionary new perspective on energy release and particle acceleration on the Sun. FOXSI is a direct imaging X-ray spectrometer with higher dynamic range and better than 10x the sensitivity of previous instruments. Flown on a 3-axis-stabilized spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, FOXSI uses high-angular-resolution grazing-incidence focusing optics combined with state-of-the-art pixelated solid-state detectors to provide direct imaging of solar hard X-rays for the first time. FOXSI is composed of a pair of x-ray telescopes with a 14-meter focal length enabled by a deployable boom. Making use of a filter-wheel and high-rate-capable solid-state detectors, FOXSI will be able to observe the largest flares without saturation while still maintaining the sensitivity to detect x-ray emission from weak flares, escaping electrons, and hot active regions. This mission concept is made possible by past experience with similar instruments on two FOXSI sounding rocket flights, in 2012 and 2014, and on the HEROES balloon flight in 2013. FOXSI's hard X-ray imager has a field of view of 9 arcminutes and an angular resolution of better than 8 arcsec; it will cover the energy range from 3 up to 50-70 keV with a spectral resolution of better than 1 keV; and it will have sub-second temporal resolution.

  20. Localization-based super-resolution imaging meets high-content screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beghin, Anne; Kechkar, Adel; Butler, Corey; Levet, Florian; Cabillic, Marine; Rossier, Olivier; Giannone, Gregory; Galland, Rémi; Choquet, Daniel; Sibarita, Jean-Baptiste

    2017-12-01

    Single-molecule localization microscopy techniques have proven to be essential tools for quantitatively monitoring biological processes at unprecedented spatial resolution. However, these techniques are very low throughput and are not yet compatible with fully automated, multiparametric cellular assays. This shortcoming is primarily due to the huge amount of data generated during imaging and the lack of software for automation and dedicated data mining. We describe an automated quantitative single-molecule-based super-resolution methodology that operates in standard multiwell plates and uses analysis based on high-content screening and data-mining software. The workflow is compatible with fixed- and live-cell imaging and allows extraction of quantitative data like fluorophore photophysics, protein clustering or dynamic behavior of biomolecules. We demonstrate that the method is compatible with high-content screening using 3D dSTORM and DNA-PAINT based super-resolution microscopy as well as single-particle tracking.

  1. Median filters as a tool to determine dark noise thresholds in high resolution smartphone image sensors for scientific imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Igoe, Damien P.; Parisi, Alfio V.; Amar, Abdurazaq; Rummenie, Katherine J.

    2018-01-01

    An evaluation of the use of median filters in the reduction of dark noise in smartphone high resolution image sensors is presented. The Sony Xperia Z1 employed has a maximum image sensor resolution of 20.7 Mpixels, with each pixel having a side length of just over 1 μm. Due to the large number of photosites, this provides an image sensor with very high sensitivity but also makes them prone to noise effects such as hot-pixels. Similar to earlier research with older models of smartphone, no appreciable temperature effects were observed in the overall average pixel values for images taken in ambient temperatures between 5 °C and 25 °C. In this research, hot-pixels are defined as pixels with intensities above a specific threshold. The threshold is determined using the distribution of pixel values of a set of images with uniform statistical properties associated with the application of median-filters of increasing size. An image with uniform statistics was employed as a training set from 124 dark images, and the threshold was determined to be 9 digital numbers (DN). The threshold remained constant for multiple resolutions and did not appreciably change even after a year of extensive field use and exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation. Although the temperature effects' uniformity masked an increase in hot-pixel occurrences, the total number of occurrences represented less than 0.1% of the total image. Hot-pixels were removed by applying a median filter, with an optimum filter size of 7 × 7; similar trends were observed for four additional smartphone image sensors used for validation. Hot-pixels were also reduced by decreasing image resolution. The method outlined in this research provides a methodology to characterise the dark noise behavior of high resolution image sensors for use in scientific investigations, especially as pixel sizes decrease.

  2. High resolution 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gagliardi, Frank M., E-mail: frank.gagliardi@wbrc.org.au [Alfred Health Radiation Oncology, The Alfred, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia and School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083 (Australia); Cornelius, Iwan [Imaging and Medical Beamline, Australian Synchrotron, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia and Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500 (Australia); Blencowe, Anton [Division of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, The University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia and Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment, Mawson Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095 (Australia); Franich, Rick D. [School of Applied Sciences and Health Innovations Research Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 (Australia); Geso, Moshi [School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083 (Australia)

    2015-12-15

    Purpose: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) techniques are under investigation at synchrotrons worldwide. Favourable outcomes from animal and cell culture studies have proven the efficacy of MRT. The aim of MRT researchers currently is to progress to human clinical trials in the near future. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the high resolution and 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams in PRESAGE® dosimeters using laser fluorescence confocal microscopy. Methods: Water equivalent PRESAGE® dosimeters were fabricated and irradiated with microbeams on the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the Australian Synchrotron. Microbeam arrays comprised of microbeams 25–50 μm wide with 200 or 400 μm peak-to-peak spacing were delivered as single, cross-fire, multidirectional, and interspersed arrays. Imaging of the dosimeters was performed using a NIKON A1 laser fluorescence confocal microscope. Results: The spatial fractionation of the MRT beams was clearly visible in 2D and up to 9 mm in depth. Individual microbeams were easily resolved with the full width at half maximum of microbeams measured on images with resolutions of as low as 0.09 μm/pixel. Profiles obtained demonstrated the change of the peak-to-valley dose ratio for interspersed MRT microbeam arrays and subtle variations in the sample positioning by the sample stage goniometer were measured. Conclusions: Laser fluorescence confocal microscopy of MRT irradiated PRESAGE® dosimeters has been validated in this study as a high resolution imaging tool for the independent spatial and geometrical verification of MRT beam delivery.

  3. High resolution 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gagliardi, Frank M.; Cornelius, Iwan; Blencowe, Anton; Franich, Rick D.; Geso, Moshi

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) techniques are under investigation at synchrotrons worldwide. Favourable outcomes from animal and cell culture studies have proven the efficacy of MRT. The aim of MRT researchers currently is to progress to human clinical trials in the near future. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the high resolution and 3D imaging of synchrotron generated microbeams in PRESAGE® dosimeters using laser fluorescence confocal microscopy. Methods: Water equivalent PRESAGE® dosimeters were fabricated and irradiated with microbeams on the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the Australian Synchrotron. Microbeam arrays comprised of microbeams 25–50 μm wide with 200 or 400 μm peak-to-peak spacing were delivered as single, cross-fire, multidirectional, and interspersed arrays. Imaging of the dosimeters was performed using a NIKON A1 laser fluorescence confocal microscope. Results: The spatial fractionation of the MRT beams was clearly visible in 2D and up to 9 mm in depth. Individual microbeams were easily resolved with the full width at half maximum of microbeams measured on images with resolutions of as low as 0.09 μm/pixel. Profiles obtained demonstrated the change of the peak-to-valley dose ratio for interspersed MRT microbeam arrays and subtle variations in the sample positioning by the sample stage goniometer were measured. Conclusions: Laser fluorescence confocal microscopy of MRT irradiated PRESAGE® dosimeters has been validated in this study as a high resolution imaging tool for the independent spatial and geometrical verification of MRT beam delivery

  4. Signal Amplification Technique (SAT): an approach for improving resolution and reducing image noise in computed tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phelps, M.E.; Huang, S.C.; Hoffman, E.J.; Plummer, D.; Carson, R.

    1981-01-01

    Spatial resolution improvements in computed tomography (CT) have been limited by the large and unique error propagation properties of this technique. The desire to provide maximum image resolution has resulted in the use of reconstruction filter functions designed to produce tomographic images with resolution as close as possible to the intrinsic detector resolution. Thus, many CT systems produce images with excessive noise with the system resolution determined by the detector resolution rather than the reconstruction algorithm. CT is a rigorous mathematical technique which applies an increasing amplification to increasing spatial frequencies in the measured data. This mathematical approach to spatial frequency amplification cannot distinguish between signal and noise and therefore both are amplified equally. We report here a method in which tomographic resolution is improved by using very small detectors to selectively amplify the signal and not noise. Thus, this approach is referred to as the signal amplification technique (SAT). SAT can provide dramatic improvements in image resolution without increases in statistical noise or dose because increases in the cutoff frequency of the reconstruction algorithm are not required to improve image resolution. Alternatively, in cases where image counts are low, such as in rapid dynamic or receptor studies, statistical noise can be reduced by lowering the cutoff frequency while still maintaining the best possible image resolution. A possible system design for a positron CT system with SAT is described

  5. Lateral resolution testing of a novel developed confocal microscopic imaging system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xin; Zhang, Yunhai; Chang, Jian; Huang, Wei; Xue, Xiaojun; Xiao, Yun

    2015-10-01

    Laser scanning confocal microscope has been widely used in biology, medicine and material science owing to its advantages of high resolution and tomographic imaging. Based on a set of confirmatory experiments and system design, a novel confocal microscopic imaging system is developed. The system is composed of a conventional fluorescence microscope and a confocal scanning unit. In the scanning unit a laser beam coupling module provides four different wavelengths 405nm 488nm 561nm and 638nm which can excite a variety of dyes. The system works in spot-to-spot scanning mode with a two-dimensional galvanometer. A 50 microns pinhole is used to guarantee that stray light is blocked and only the fluorescence signal from the focal point can be received . The three-channel spectral splitter is used to perform fluorescence imaging at three different working wavelengths simultaneously. The rat kidney tissue slice is imaged using the developed confocal microscopic imaging system. Nucleues labeled by DAPI and kidney spherule curved pipe labeled by Alexa Fluor 488 can be imaged clearly and respectively, realizing the distinction between the different components of mouse kidney tissue. The three-dimensional tomographic imaging of mouse kidney tissue is reconstructed by several two-dimensional images obtained in different depths. At last the resolution of the confocal microscopic imaging system is tested quantitatively. The experimental result shows that the system can achieve lateral resolution priority to 230nm.

  6. Monitoring Location and Angular Orientation of a Pill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schipper, John F.

    2012-01-01

    A mobile pill transmitter system moves through, or adjacent to, one or more organs in an animal or human body, while transmitting signals from its present location and/or present angular orientation. The system also provides signals from which the present roll angle of the pill, about a selected axis, can be determined. When the location coordinates angular orientation and the roll angle of the pill are within selected ranges, an aperture on the pill container releases a selected chemical into, or onto, the body. Optionally, the pill, as it moves, provides a sequence of visually perceptible images. The times for image formation may correspond to times at which the pill transmitter system location or image satisfies one of at least four criteria. This invention provides and supplies an algorithm for exact determination of location coordinates and angular orientation coordinates for a mobile pill transmitter (PT), or other similar device that is introduced into, and moves within, a GI tract of a human or animal body. A set of as many as eight nonlinear equations has been developed and applied, relating propagation of a wireless signal between either two, three, or more transmitting antennas located on the PT, to four or more non-coplanar receiving antennas located on a signal receiver appliance worn by the user. The equations are solved exactly, without approximations or iterations, and are applied in several environments: (1) association of a visual image, transmitted by the PT at each of a second sequence of times, with a PT location and PT angular orientation at that time; (2) determination of a position within the body at which a drug or chemical substance or other treatment is to be delivered to a selected portion of the body; (3) monitoring, after delivery, of the effect(s) of administration of the treatment; and (4) determination of one or more positions within the body where provision and examination of a finer-scale image is warranted.

  7. Applications of high lateral and energy resolution imaging XPS with a double hemispherical analyser based spectromicroscope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Escher, M.; Winkler, K.; Renault, O.; Barrett, N.

    2010-01-01

    The design and applications of an instrument for imaging X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are reviewed. The instrument is based on a photoelectron microscope and a double hemispherical analyser whose symmetric configuration avoids the spherical aberration (α 2 -term) inherent for standard analysers. The analyser allows high transmission imaging without sacrificing the lateral and energy resolution of the instrument. The importance of high transmission, especially for highest resolution imaging XPS with monochromated laboratory X-ray sources, is outlined and the close interrelation of energy resolution, lateral resolution and analyser transmission is illustrated. Chemical imaging applications using a monochromatic laboratory Al Kα-source are shown, with a lateral resolution of 610 nm. Examples of measurements made using synchrotron and laboratory ultra-violet light show the broad field of applications from imaging of core level electrons with chemical shift identification, high resolution threshold photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM), work function imaging and band structure imaging.

  8. Quasi-simultaneous OCT en-face imaging with two different depth resolutions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Podoleanu, Adrian Gh; Cucu, Radu G; Rosen, Richard B; Dobre, George M; Rogers, John A; Jackson, David A

    2003-01-01

    We report a system capable of acquiring two quasi-simultaneous en-face optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of different depth resolution (one better than 20 μm and the other between 80 and 330 μm) at a frame rate of 2 Hz. The larger depth resolution image makes it ideal for target positioning in the OCT imaging of moving organs, such as eye fundus and cornea, as well as in the alignment of stacks of en-face OCT images. This role is similar to that of the confocal channel in a previously reported dual channel OCT/confocal imaging instrument. The system presented operates as a dual channel imaging instrument, where both channels operate on the OCT principle. We illustrate the functionality of the system with examples from a coin, skin from a finger and optic nerve in vivo

  9. Resolution of coherent and incoherent imaging systems reconsidered : Classical criteria and a statistical alternative

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Aert, S.; Van Dyck, D.; Den Dekker, A.J.

    2006-01-01

    The resolution of coherent and incoherent imaging systems is usually evaluated in terms of classical resolution criteria, such as Rayleigh’s. Based on these criteria, incoherent imaging is generally concluded to be ‘better’ than coherent imaging. However, this paper reveals some misconceptions in

  10. Gamma-Ray Imager With High Spatial And Spectral Resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callas, John L.; Varnell, Larry S.; Wheaton, William A.; Mahoney, William A.

    1996-01-01

    Gamma-ray instrument developed to enable both two-dimensional imaging at relatively high spatial resolution and spectroscopy at fractional-photon-energy resolution of about 10 to the negative 3rd power in photon-energy range from 10 keV to greater than 10 MeV. In its spectroscopic aspect, instrument enables identification of both narrow and weak gamma-ray spectral peaks.

  11. Annular dark field electron microscope images with better than 2 A resolution at 100 kV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, D.H.; Kirkland, E.J.; Silcox, J.

    1989-01-01

    High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) images in the annular dark field (ADF) imaging mode approaching the theoretical point-to-point resolution limit are presented. The ADF images were obtained from a high T c superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x thin-film specimen at 100 kV. The 1.9 A resolution lattice image, which is the smallest lattice spacing in the specimen, corresponds to the minimum resolvable spatial frequency with 5% contrast in the contrast transfer function for annular dark field, and is smaller than the resolution limit given by the Rayleigh criterion. This demonstrates that STEM ADF imaging can have a resolution approximately 40% better than that of the bright field conventional transmission electron microscope (CTEM) imaging at Scherzer condition

  12. Limiting liability via high resolution image processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greenwade, L.E.; Overlin, T.K.

    1996-12-31

    The utilization of high resolution image processing allows forensic analysts and visualization scientists to assist detectives by enhancing field photographs, and by providing the tools and training to increase the quality and usability of field photos. Through the use of digitized photographs and computerized enhancement software, field evidence can be obtained and processed as `evidence ready`, even in poor lighting and shadowed conditions or darkened rooms. These images, which are most often unusable when taken with standard camera equipment, can be shot in the worst of photographic condition and be processed as usable evidence. Visualization scientists have taken the use of digital photographic image processing and moved the process of crime scene photos into the technology age. The use of high resolution technology will assist law enforcement in making better use of crime scene photography and positive identification of prints. Valuable court room and investigation time can be saved and better served by this accurate, performance based process. Inconclusive evidence does not lead to convictions. Enhancement of the photographic capability helps solve one major problem with crime scene photos, that if taken with standard equipment and without the benefit of enhancement software would be inconclusive, thus allowing guilty parties to be set free due to lack of evidence.

  13. Molecular-resolution imaging of pentacene on KCl(001

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia L. Neff

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The growth of pentacene on KCl(001 at submonolayer coverage was studied by dynamic scanning force microscopy. At coverages below one monolayer pentacene was found to arrange in islands with an upright configuration. The molecular arrangement was resolved in high-resolution images. In these images two different types of patterns were observed, which switch repeatedly. In addition, defects were found, such as a molecular vacancy and domain boundaries.

  14. Quantification of resolution in multiplanar reconstructions for digital breast tomosynthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vent, Trevor L.; Acciavatti, Raymond J.; Kwon, Young Joon; Maidment, Andrew D. A.

    2016-03-01

    Multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) allows tomographic images to be portrayed in various orientations. We have conducted research to determine the resolution of tomosynthesis MPR. We built a phantom that houses a star test pattern to measure resolution. This phantom provides three rotational degrees of freedom. The design consists of two hemispheres with longitudinal and latitudinal grooves that reference angular increments. When joined together, the hemispheres form a dome that sits inside a cylindrical encasement. The cylindrical encasement contains reference notches to match the longitudinal and latitudinal grooves that guide the phantom's rotations. With this design, any orientation of the star-pattern can be analyzed. Images of the star-pattern were acquired using a DBT mammography system at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Images taken were reconstructed and analyzed by two different methods. First, the maximum visible frequency (in line pairs per millimeter) of the star test pattern was measured. Then, the contrast was calculated at a fixed spatial frequency. These analyses confirm that resolution decreases with tilt relative to the breast support. They also confirm that resolution in tomosynthesis MPR is dependent on object orientation. Current results verify that the existence of super-resolution depends on the orientation of the frequency; the direction parallel to x-ray tube motion shows super-resolution. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the direction of the spatial frequency relative to the motion of the x-ray tube is a determinant of resolution in MPR for DBT.

  15. A High-resolution Multi-wavelength Simultaneous Imaging System with Solar Adaptive Optics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rao, Changhui; Zhu, Lei; Gu, Naiting; Rao, Xuejun; Zhang, Lanqiang; Bao, Hua; Kong, Lin; Guo, Youming; Zhong, Libo; Ma, Xue’an; Li, Mei; Wang, Cheng; Zhang, Xiaojun; Fan, Xinlong; Chen, Donghong; Feng, Zhongyi; Wang, Xiaoyun; Wang, Zhiyong, E-mail: gunaiting@ioe.ac.cn [The Key Laboratory on Adaptive Optics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 350, Shuangliu, Chengdu 610209, Sichuan (China)

    2017-10-01

    A high-resolution multi-wavelength simultaneous imaging system from visible to near-infrared bands with a solar adaptive optics system, in which seven imaging channels, including the G band (430.5 nm), the Na i line (589 nm), the H α line (656.3 nm), the TiO band (705.7 nm), the Ca ii IR line (854.2 nm), the He i line (1083 nm), and the Fe i line (1565.3 nm), are chosen, is developed to image the solar atmosphere from the photosphere layer to the chromosphere layer. To our knowledge, this is the solar high-resolution imaging system with the widest spectral coverage. This system was demonstrated at the 1 m New Vaccum Solar Telescope and the on-sky high-resolution observational results were acquired. In this paper, we will illustrate the design and performance of the imaging system. The calibration and the data reduction of the system are also presented.

  16. Quantitative comparison between two geometrical layouts for diffraction enhanced imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang Wanxia; Yuan Qingxi; Zhu Peiping; Wang Junyue; Shu Hang; Chen Bo; Hu Tiandou; Wu Ziyu

    2007-01-01

    Diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) with two crystals has been performed at the 4W1A beamline at Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF). Two different crystal geometrical layouts were used to collect images, in the first layout the rotation axis of the crystal has been set perpendicular to the orbital plane while in the second the axis is parallel to the orbital plane. Performance comparison between the two layouts is discussed in terms of thermal expansion of the crystal induced by the heat load, imaging homogeneity, spatial resolution and angular resolution. From both experimental and theoretical data we show that the best images may be obtained with the optical layout in which the rotation axis of the crystals is perpendicular to the orbital plane

  17. Quantitative comparison between two geometrical layouts for diffraction enhanced imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang Wanxia; Yuan Qingxi [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China); Zhu Peiping [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China)], E-mail: zhupp@ihep.ac.cn; Wang Junyue; Shu Hang [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China); Chen Bo [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China); Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China); Hu Tiandou [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China); Wu Ziyu [Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, Beijing (China)], E-mail: wuzy@ihep.ac.cn

    2007-07-15

    Diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) with two crystals has been performed at the 4W1A beamline at Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF). Two different crystal geometrical layouts were used to collect images, in the first layout the rotation axis of the crystal has been set perpendicular to the orbital plane while in the second the axis is parallel to the orbital plane. Performance comparison between the two layouts is discussed in terms of thermal expansion of the crystal induced by the heat load, imaging homogeneity, spatial resolution and angular resolution. From both experimental and theoretical data we show that the best images may be obtained with the optical layout in which the rotation axis of the crystals is perpendicular to the orbital plane.

  18. GRANULOMETRIC MAPS FROM HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine Mering

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available A new method of land cover mapping from satellite images using granulometric analysis is presented here. Discontinuous landscapes such as steppian bushes of semi arid regions and recently growing urban settlements are especially concerned by this study. Spatial organisations of the land cover are quantified by means of the size distribution analysis of the land cover units extracted from high resolution remotely sensed images. A granulometric map is built by automatic classification of every pixel of the image according to the granulometric density inside a sliding neighbourhood. Granulometric mapping brings some advantages over traditional thematic mapping by remote sensing by focusing on fine spatial events and small changes in one peculiar category of the landscape.

  19. Target-oriented retrieval of subsurface wave fields - Pushing the resolution limits in seismic imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconcelos, Ivan; Ozmen, Neslihan; van der Neut, Joost; Cui, Tianci

    2017-04-01

    Travelling wide-bandwidth seismic waves have long been used as a primary tool in exploration seismology because they can probe the subsurface over large distances, while retaining relatively high spatial resolution. The well-known Born resolution limit often seems to be the lower bound on spatial imaging resolution in real life examples. In practice, data acquisition cost, time constraints and other factors can worsen the resolution achieved by wavefield imaging. Could we obtain images whose resolution beats the Born limits? Would it be practical to achieve it, and what are we missing today to achieve this? In this talk, we will cover aspects of linear and nonlinear seismic imaging to understand elements that play a role in obtaining "super-resolved" seismic images. New redatuming techniques, such as the Marchenko method, enable the retrieval of subsurface fields that include multiple scattering interactions, while requiring relatively little knowledge of model parameters. Together with new concepts in imaging, such as Target-Enclosing Extended Images, these new redatuming methods enable new targeted imaging frameworks. We will make a case as to why target-oriented approaches to reconstructing subsurface-domain wavefields from surface data may help in increasing the resolving power of seismic imaging, and in pushing the limits on parameter estimation. We will illustrate this using a field data example. Finally, we will draw connections between seismic and other imaging modalities, and discuss how this framework could be put to use in other applications

  20. Angular filter refractometry analysis using simulated annealing [An improved method for characterizing plasma density profiles using angular filter refractometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angland, P.; Haberberger, D.; Ivancic, S. T.; Froula, D. H.

    2017-01-01

    Here, a new method of analysis for angular filter refractometry images was developed to characterize laser-produced, long-scale-length plasmas using an annealing algorithm to iterative converge upon a solution. Angular filter refractometry (AFR) is a novel technique used to characterize the density pro files of laser-produced, long-scale-length plasmas. A synthetic AFR image is constructed by a user-defined density profile described by eight parameters, and the algorithm systematically alters the parameters until the comparison is optimized. The optimization and statistical uncertainty calculation is based on a minimization of the χ2 test statistic. The algorithm was successfully applied to experimental data of plasma expanding from a flat, laser-irradiated target, resulting in average uncertainty in the density profile of 5-10% in the region of interest.

  1. Dynamic Raman imaging system with high spatial and temporal resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lei; Dai, Yinzhen; He, Hao; Lv, Ruiqi; Zong, Cheng; Ren, Bin

    2017-09-01

    There is an increasing need to study dynamic changing systems with significantly high spatial and temporal resolutions. In this work, we integrated point-scanning, line-scanning, and wide-field Raman imaging techniques into a single system. By using an Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) with a high gain and high frame rate, we significantly reduced the time required for wide-field imaging, making it possible to monitor the electrochemical reactions in situ. The highest frame rate of EMCDD was ˜50 fps, and the Raman images for a specific Raman peak can be obtained by passing the signal from the sample through the Liquid Crystal Tunable Filter. The spatial resolutions of scanning imaging and wide-field imaging with a 100× objective (NA = 0.9) are 0.5 × 0.5 μm2 and 0.36 × 0.36 μm2, respectively. The system was used to study the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanorods, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering signal distribution for Au Nanoparticle aggregates, and dynamic Raman imaging of an electrochemical reacting system.

  2. Angular distribution of atoms ejected by laser ablation of different metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konomi, I.; Motohiro, T.; Asaoka, T.

    2009-01-01

    Angular distributions of 13 different metals ejected by laser ablation using fourth harmonics (wavelength=266 nm) of neodymium doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser and a fluence close to near-threshold value (2.3 J/cm 2 ) have been investigated with a high angular resolution. The angular distribution which is characterized by the exponent n of cos n θ distribution showed very broad range of values between 3 and 24 for different metals. A simple relation that the exponent n is proportional to the square root of particle atomic weight as reported previously has not been observed. Instead, a general trend has been found that the metals with higher sublimation energy such as Ta and Zr show narrower angular distribution than those with lower sublimation energy such as Sn and In. While the sublimation energy of metals has a great influence on the angular distribution of ejected atoms, a simple consideration suggests that their thermal conductivity and specific heat have little effect on it.

  3. Multi-Sensor Fusion of Infrared and Electro-Optic Signals for High Resolution Night Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Lawrence

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Electro-optic (EO image sensors exhibit the properties of high resolution and low noise level at daytime, but they do not work in dark environments. Infrared (IR image sensors exhibit poor resolution and cannot separate objects with similar temperature. Therefore, we propose a novel framework of IR image enhancement based on the information (e.g., edge from EO images, which improves the resolution of IR images and helps us distinguish objects at night. Our framework superimposing/blending the edges of the EO image onto the corresponding transformed IR image improves their resolution. In this framework, we adopt the theoretical point spread function (PSF proposed by Hardie et al. for the IR image, which has the modulation transfer function (MTF of a uniform detector array and the incoherent optical transfer function (OTF of diffraction-limited optics. In addition, we design an inverse filter for the proposed PSF and use it for the IR image transformation. The framework requires four main steps: (1 inverse filter-based IR image transformation; (2 EO image edge detection; (3 registration; and (4 blending/superimposing of the obtained image pair. Simulation results show both blended and superimposed IR images, and demonstrate that blended IR images have better quality over the superimposed images. Additionally, based on the same steps, simulation result shows a blended IR image of better quality when only the original IR image is available.

  4. Heteromodal conceptual processing in the angular gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonner, Michael F; Peelle, Jonathan E; Cook, Philip A; Grossman, Murray

    2013-05-01

    Concepts bind together the features commonly associated with objects and events to form networks in long-term semantic memory. These conceptual networks are the basis of human knowledge and underlie perception, imagination, and the ability to communicate about experiences and the contents of the environment. Although it is often assumed that this distributed semantic information is integrated in higher-level heteromodal association cortices, open questions remain about the role and anatomic basis of heteromodal representations in semantic memory. Here we used combined neuroimaging evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to characterize the cortical networks underlying concept representation. Using a lexical decision task, we examined the processing of concepts in four semantic categories that varied on their sensory-motor feature associations (sight, sound, manipulation, and abstract). We found that the angular gyrus was activated across all categories regardless of their modality-specific feature associations, consistent with a heteromodal account for the angular gyrus. Exploratory analyses suggested that categories with weighted sensory-motor features additionally recruited modality-specific association cortices. Furthermore, DTI tractography identified white matter tracts connecting these regions of modality-specific functional activation with the angular gyrus. These findings are consistent with a distributed semantic network that includes a heteromodal, integrative component in the angular gyrus in combination with sensory-motor feature representations in modality-specific association cortices. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Influence of total beam current on HRTEM image resolution in differentially pumped ETEM with nitrogen gas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bright, A N; Yoshida, K; Tanaka, N

    2013-01-01

    Environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) enables the study of catalytic and other reaction processes as they occur with Angstrom-level resolution. The microscope used is a dedicated ETEM (Titan ETEM, FEI Company) with a differential pumping vacuum system and apertures, allowing aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging to be performed with gas pressures up to 20 mbar in the sample area and with significant advantages over membrane-type E-cell holders. The effect on image resolution of varying the nitrogen gas pressure, electron beam current density and total beam current were measured using information limit (Young's fringes) on a standard cross grating sample and from silicon crystal lattice imaging. As expected, increasing gas pressure causes a decrease in HRTEM image resolution. However, the total electron beam current also causes big changes in the image resolution (lower beam current giving better resolution), whereas varying the beam current density has almost no effect on resolution, a result that has not been reported previously. This behavior is seen even with zero-loss filtered imaging, which we believe shows that the drop in resolution is caused by elastic scattering at gas ions created by the incident electron beam. Suitable conditions for acquiring high resolution images in a gas environment are discussed. Lattice images at nitrogen pressures up to 16 mbar are shown, with 0.12 nm information transfer at 4 mbar. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Ribbon scanning confocal for high-speed high-resolution volume imaging of brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan M Watson

    Full Text Available Whole-brain imaging is becoming a fundamental means of experimental insight; however, achieving subcellular resolution imagery in a reasonable time window has not been possible. We describe the first application of multicolor ribbon scanning confocal methods to collect high-resolution volume images of chemically cleared brains. We demonstrate that ribbon scanning collects images over ten times faster than conventional high speed confocal systems but with equivalent spectral and spatial resolution. Further, using this technology, we reconstruct large volumes of mouse brain infected with encephalitic alphaviruses and demonstrate that regions of the brain with abundant viral replication were inaccessible to vascular perfusion. This reveals that the destruction or collapse of large regions of brain micro vasculature may contribute to the severe disease caused by Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Visualization of this fundamental impact of infection would not be possible without sampling at subcellular resolution within large brain volumes.

  7. Image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT: A sensitivity analysis of respiratory signal, binning method, reconstruction algorithm, and projection angular spacing

    OpenAIRE

    Shieh, Chun-Chien; Kipritidis, John; O’Brien, Ricky T.; Kuncic, Zdenka; Keall, Paul J.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Respiratory signal, binning method, and reconstruction algorithm are three major controllable factors affecting image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT), which is widely used in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Previous studies have investigated each of these factors individually, but no integrated sensitivity analysis has been performed. In addition, projection angular spacing is also a key factor in reconstruction, but how it affects image quality is not obvious. An inv...

  8. Three-dimensional true FISP for high-resolution imaging of the whole brain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmitz, B.; Hagen, T.; Reith, W.

    2003-01-01

    While high-resolution T1-weighted sequences, such as three-dimensional magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo imaging, are widely available, there is a lack of an equivalent fast high-resolution sequence providing T2 contrast. Using fast high-performance gradient systems we show the feasibility of three-dimensional true fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP) to fill this gap. We applied a three-dimensional true-FISP protocol with voxel sizes down to 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 mm and acquisition times of approximately 8 min on a 1.5-T Sonata (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) magnetic resonance scanner. The sequence was included into routine brain imaging protocols for patients with cerebrospinal-fluid-related intracranial pathology. Images from 20 patients and 20 healthy volunteers were evaluated by two neuroradiologists with respect to diagnostic image quality and artifacts. All true-FISP scans showed excellent imaging quality free of artifacts in patients and volunteers. They were valuable for the assessment of anatomical and pathologic aspects of the included patients. High-resolution true-FISP imaging is a valuable adjunct for the exploration and neuronavigation of intracranial pathologies especially if cerebrospinal fluid is involved. (orig.)

  9. Fast iterative segmentation of high resolution medical images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hebert, T.J.

    1996-01-01

    Various applications in positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) require segmentation of 20 to 60 high resolution images of size 256x256 pixels in 3-9 seconds per image. This places particular constraints on the design of image segmentation algorithms. This paper examines the trade-offs in segmenting images based on fitting a density function to the pixel intensities using curve-fitting versus the maximum likelihood method. A quantized data representation is proposed and the EM algorithm for fitting a finite mixture density function to the quantized representation for an image is derived. A Monte Carlo evaluation of mean estimation error and classification error showed that the resulting quantized EM algorithm dramatically reduces the required computation time without loss of accuracy

  10. A Kalman Filter-Based Method to Generate Continuous Time Series of Medium-Resolution NDVI Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Sedano

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available A data assimilation method to produce complete temporal sequences of synthetic medium-resolution images is presented. The method implements a Kalman filter recursive algorithm that integrates medium and moderate resolution imagery. To demonstrate the approach, time series of 30-m spatial resolution NDVI images at 16-day time steps were generated using Landsat NDVI images and MODIS NDVI products at four sites with different ecosystems and land cover-land use dynamics. The results show that the time series of synthetic NDVI images captured seasonal land surface dynamics and maintained the spatial structure of the landscape at higher spatial resolution. The time series of synthetic medium-resolution NDVI images were validated within a Monte Carlo simulation framework. Normalized residuals decreased as the number of available observations increased, ranging from 0.2 to below 0.1. Residuals were also significantly lower for time series of synthetic NDVI images generated at combined recursion (smoothing than individually at forward and backward recursions (filtering. Conversely, the uncertainties of the synthetic images also decreased when the number of available observations increased and combined recursions were implemented.

  11. Clinical evaluation of PET image reconstruction using a spatial resolution model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Flemming Littrup; Klausen, Thomas Levin; Loft, Annika

    2013-01-01

    PURPOSE: PET image resolution is variable across the measured field-of-view and described by the point spread function (PSF). When accounting for the PSF during PET image reconstruction image resolution is improved and partial volume effects are reduced. Here, we evaluate the effect of PSF......-based reconstruction on lesion quantification in routine clinical whole-body (WB) PET/CT imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 41 oncology patients were referred for a WB-PET/CT examination (Biograph 40 TruePoint). Emission data were acquired at 2.5min/bed at 1hpi of 400 MBq [18F]-FDG. Attenuation-corrected PET images were...... reconstructed on 336×336-matrices using: (R1) standard AW-OSEM (4 iter, 8 subsets, 4mm Gaussian) and (R2) AW-OSEM with PSF (3 iter, 21 subsets, 2mm). Blinded and randomised reading of R1- and R2-PET images was performed. Individual lesions were located and counted independently on both sets of images...

  12. FFT-enhanced IHS transform method for fusing high-resolution satellite images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ling, Y.; Ehlers, M.; Usery, E.L.; Madden, M.

    2007-01-01

    Existing image fusion techniques such as the intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transform and principal components analysis (PCA) methods may not be optimal for fusing the new generation commercial high-resolution satellite images such as Ikonos and QuickBird. One problem is color distortion in the fused image, which causes visual changes as well as spectral differences between the original and fused images. In this paper, a fast Fourier transform (FFT)-enhanced IHS method is developed for fusing new generation high-resolution satellite images. This method combines a standard IHS transform with FFT filtering of both the panchromatic image and the intensity component of the original multispectral image. Ikonos and QuickBird data are used to assess the FFT-enhanced IHS transform method. Experimental results indicate that the FFT-enhanced IHS transform method may improve upon the standard IHS transform and the PCA methods in preserving spectral and spatial information. ?? 2006 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS).

  13. High-resolution fiber-optic microendoscopy for in situ cellular imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierce, Mark; Yu, Dihua; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

    2011-01-11

    Many biological and clinical studies require the longitudinal study and analysis of morphology and function with cellular level resolution. Traditionally, multiple experiments are run in parallel, with individual samples removed from the study at sequential time points for evaluation by light microscopy. Several intravital techniques have been developed, with confocal, multiphoton, and second harmonic microscopy all demonstrating their ability to be used for imaging in situ. With these systems, however, the required infrastructure is complex and expensive, involving scanning laser systems and complex light sources. Here we present a protocol for the design and assembly of a high-resolution microendoscope which can be built in a day using off-the-shelf components for under US$5,000. The platform offers flexibility in terms of image resolution, field-of-view, and operating wavelength, and we describe how these parameters can be easily modified to meet the specific needs of the end user. We and others have explored the use of the high-resolution microendoscope (HRME) in in vitro cell culture, in excised and living animal tissues, and in human tissues in vivo. Users have reported the use of several different fluorescent contrast agents, including proflavine, benzoporphyrin-derivative monoacid ring A (BPD-MA), and fluoroscein, all of which have received full, or investigational approval from the FDA for use in human subjects. High-resolution microendoscopy, in the form described here, may appeal to a wide range of researchers working in the basic and clinical sciences. The technique offers an effective and economical approach which complements traditional benchtop microscopy, by enabling the user to perform high-resolution, longitudinal imaging in situ.

  14. APPLICATION OF CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK IN CLASSIFICATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION AGRICULTURAL REMOTE SENSING IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Yao

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of Precision Agriculture (PA promoted by high-resolution remote sensing, it makes significant sense in management and estimation of agriculture through crop classification of high-resolution remote sensing image. Due to the complex and fragmentation of the features and the surroundings in the circumstance of high-resolution, the accuracy of the traditional classification methods has not been able to meet the standard of agricultural problems. In this case, this paper proposed a classification method for high-resolution agricultural remote sensing images based on convolution neural networks(CNN. For training, a large number of training samples were produced by panchromatic images of GF-1 high-resolution satellite of China. In the experiment, through training and testing on the CNN under the toolbox of deep learning by MATLAB, the crop classification finally got the correct rate of 99.66 % after the gradual optimization of adjusting parameter during training. Through improving the accuracy of image classification and image recognition, the applications of CNN provide a reference value for the field of remote sensing in PA.

  15. High-Resolution Imaging System (HiRIS) based on H9500 PSPMT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trotta, C.; Massari, R.; Trinci, G.; Palermo, N.; Boccalini, S.; Scopinaro, F.; Soluri, A.

    2008-01-01

    The H8500 PhotoMultiplier Tube (PMT) from Hamamatsu has been used in the last years to assemble several scintigraphic devices in order to achieve high-resolution gamma cameras. If the detector is coupled to discrete scintillator with millimetric pixel size, the resulting charge distribution that emerges is not properly sampled by its anodes (6x6 mm 2 ). The new position sensitive PMT H9500, with its 3x3 mm 2 anodes, allows a better charge distribution sampling, improving both spatial resolution and linearity of the system. In this paper, we investigate the imaging performances of the H9500 PMT coupled with a CsI(Tl) array having 1 mm pixel size and compare the results with the same scintillator coupled with H8500 PMT. A portable imaging system named HiRIS (High-Resolution Imaging System) was then realized using a miniaturized readout electronic. Thanks to its lightness, it can be easily used in Medical Imaging. We used HiRIS, together with a rotating system, to carry out a tomographic reconstruction of the biodistribution of a radiopharmaceutical in rats

  16. High-resolution storage phosphor imaging of the chest: Comparison with conventional screen-film systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuhrman, C.R.; Good, B.; Feist, J.; Gur, D.; Darby, J.

    1987-01-01

    An experimental high-resolution storage phosphor imaging system (Eastman Kodak) has been used to evaluate the image quality and impact on diagnostic interpretation of storage phosphor images relative to conventional screen-film images of the same patients. The elements of the system include a high-resolution laser scanner (4K X 5K X 12 bit); an image processing system; and a high-resolution (4K X 5K X 12 bit) laser printer. Each case was digitally printed onto film in two different formats: a full-size (14 X 14-inch) and a half-size format of four processed, minified images (7 X 7-inches each). The multiformat image includes an original, an unsharp-masked, a reversed (black bone) unsharp-masked, and a high-contrast unsharp-masked image. The results of this preliminary study (11 cases, eight readers) clearly indicate that after minimal adjustment, radiologists do not object to making diagnoses from minified images. Unsharp masked images were considered preferable to unprocessed images, and processed storage phosphor images were rated significantly better than conventional film images

  17. Parallel detecting super-resolution microscopy using correlation based image restoration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Zhongzhi; Liu, Shaocong; Zhu, Dazhao; Kuang, Cuifang; Liu, Xu

    2017-12-01

    A novel approach to achieve the image restoration is proposed in which each detector's relative position in the detector array is no longer a necessity. We can identify each detector's relative location by extracting a certain area from one of the detector's image and scanning it on other detectors' images. According to this location, we can generate the point spread functions (PSF) for each detector and perform deconvolution for image restoration. Equipped with this method, the microscope with discretionally designed detector array can be easily constructed without the concern of exact relative locations of detectors. The simulated results and experimental results show the total improvement in resolution with a factor of 1.7 compared to conventional confocal fluorescence microscopy. With the significant enhancement in resolution and easiness for application of this method, this novel method should have potential for a wide range of application in fluorescence microscopy based on parallel detecting.

  18. Analyzing angular distributions for two-step dissociation mechanisms in velocity map imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straus, Daniel B; Butler, Lynne M; Alligood, Bridget W; Butler, Laurie J

    2013-08-15

    Increasingly, velocity map imaging is becoming the method of choice to study photoinduced molecular dissociation processes. This paper introduces an algorithm to analyze the measured net speed, P(vnet), and angular, β(vnet), distributions of the products from a two-step dissociation mechanism, where the first step but not the second is induced by absorption of linearly polarized laser light. Typically, this might be the photodissociation of a C-X bond (X = halogen or other atom) to produce an atom and a momentum-matched radical that has enough internal energy to subsequently dissociate (without the absorption of an additional photon). It is this second step, the dissociation of the unstable radicals, that one wishes to study, but the measured net velocity of the final products is the vector sum of the velocity imparted to the radical in the primary photodissociation (which is determined by taking data on the momentum-matched atomic cophotofragment) and the additional velocity vector imparted in the subsequent dissociation of the unstable radical. The algorithm allows one to determine, from the forward-convolution fitting of the net velocity distribution, the distribution of velocity vectors imparted in the second step of the mechanism. One can thus deduce the secondary velocity distribution, characterized by a speed distribution P(v1,2°) and an angular distribution I(θ2°), where θ2° is the angle between the dissociating radical's velocity vector and the additional velocity vector imparted to the product detected from the subsequent dissociation of the radical.

  19. Improving PET spatial resolution and detectability for prostate cancer imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bal, H; Guerin, L; Casey, M E; Conti, M; Eriksson, L; Michel, C; Fanti, S; Pettinato, C; Adler, S; Choyke, P

    2014-01-01

    Prostate cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer among men, can benefit from recent improvements in positron emission tomography (PET) technology. In particular, better spatial resolution, lower noise and higher detectability of small lesions could be greatly beneficial for early diagnosis and could provide a strong support for guiding biopsy and surgery. In this article, the impact of improved PET instrumentation with superior spatial resolution and high sensitivity are discussed, together with the latest development in PET technology: resolution recovery and time-of-flight reconstruction. Using simulated cancer lesions, inserted in clinical PET images obtained with conventional protocols, we show that visual identification of the lesions and detectability via numerical observers can already be improved using state of the art PET reconstruction methods. This was achieved using both resolution recovery and time-of-flight reconstruction, and a high resolution image with 2 mm pixel size. Channelized Hotelling numerical observers showed an increase in the area under the LROC curve from 0.52 to 0.58. In addition, a relationship between the simulated input activity and the area under the LROC curve showed that the minimum detectable activity was reduced by more than 23%. (paper)

  20. Coded aperture detector: an image sensor with sub 20-nm pixel resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyakawa, Ryan; Mayer, Rafael; Wojdyla, Antoine; Vannier, Nicolas; Lesser, Ian; Aron-Dine, Shifrah; Naulleau, Patrick

    2014-08-11

    We describe the coded aperture detector, a novel image sensor based on uniformly redundant arrays (URAs) with customizable pixel size, resolution, and operating photon energy regime. In this sensor, a coded aperture is scanned laterally at the image plane of an optical system, and the transmitted intensity is measured by a photodiode. The image intensity is then digitally reconstructed using a simple convolution. We present results from a proof-of-principle optical prototype, demonstrating high-fidelity image sensing comparable to a CCD. A 20-nm half-pitch URA fabricated by the Center for X-ray Optics (CXRO) nano-fabrication laboratory is presented that is suitable for high-resolution image sensing at EUV and soft X-ray wavelengths.

  1. Automatic Segmentation of Fluorescence Lifetime Microscopy Images of Cells Using Multi-Resolution Community Detection -A First Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Dandan; Sarder, Pinaki; Ronhovde, Peter; Orthaus, Sandra; Achilefu, Samuel; Nussinov, Zohar

    2014-01-01

    Inspired by a multi-resolution community detection (MCD) based network segmentation method, we suggest an automatic method for segmenting fluorescence lifetime (FLT) imaging microscopy (FLIM) images of cells in a first pilot investigation on two selected images. The image processing problem is framed as identifying segments with respective average FLTs against the background in FLIM images. The proposed method segments a FLIM image for a given resolution of the network defined using image pixels as the nodes and similarity between the FLTs of the pixels as the edges. In the resulting segmentation, low network resolution leads to larger segments, and high network resolution leads to smaller segments. Further, using the proposed method, the mean-square error (MSE) in estimating the FLT segments in a FLIM image was found to consistently decrease with increasing resolution of the corresponding network. The MCD method appeared to perform better than a popular spectral clustering based method in performing FLIM image segmentation. At high resolution, the spectral segmentation method introduced noisy segments in its output, and it was unable to achieve a consistent decrease in MSE with increasing resolution. PMID:24251410

  2. Adaptive optics improves multiphoton super-resolution imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Wei; Wu, Yicong; Winter, Peter; Shroff, Hari

    2018-02-01

    Three dimensional (3D) fluorescence microscopy has been essential for biological studies. It allows interrogation of structure and function at spatial scales spanning the macromolecular, cellular, and tissue levels. Critical factors to consider in 3D microscopy include spatial resolution, signal-to-noise (SNR), signal-to-background (SBR), and temporal resolution. Maintaining high quality imaging becomes progressively more difficult at increasing depth (where optical aberrations, induced by inhomogeneities of refractive index in the sample, degrade resolution and SNR), and in thick or densely labeled samples (where out-of-focus background can swamp the valuable, in-focus-signal from each plane). In this report, we introduce our new instrumentation to address these problems. A multiphoton structured illumination microscope was simply modified to integrate an adpative optics system for optical aberrations correction. Firstly, the optical aberrations are determined using direct wavefront sensing with a nonlinear guide star and subsequently corrected using a deformable mirror, restoring super-resolution information. We demonstrate the flexibility of our adaptive optics approach on a variety of semi-transparent samples, including bead phantoms, cultured cells in collagen gels and biological tissues. The performance of our super-resolution microscope is improved in all of these samples, as peak intensity is increased (up to 40-fold) and resolution recovered (up to 176+/-10 nm laterally and 729+/-39 nm axially) at depths up to 250 μm from the coverslip surface.

  3. AUTOMATIC INTERPRETATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION SAR IMAGES: FIRST RESULTS OF SAR IMAGE SIMULATION FOR SINGLE BUILDINGS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Tao

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Due to the all-weather data acquisition capabilities, high resolution space borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR plays an important role in remote sensing applications like change detection. However, because of the complex geometric mapping of buildings in urban areas, SAR images are often hard to interpret. SAR simulation techniques ease the visual interpretation of SAR images, while fully automatic interpretation is still a challenge. This paper presents a method for supporting the interpretation of high resolution SAR images with simulated radar images using a LiDAR digital surface model (DSM. Line features are extracted from the simulated and real SAR images and used for matching. A single building model is generated from the DSM and used for building recognition in the SAR image. An application for the concept is presented for the city centre of Munich where the comparison of the simulation to the TerraSAR-X data shows a good similarity. Based on the result of simulation and matching, special features (e.g. like double bounce lines, shadow areas etc. can be automatically indicated in SAR image.

  4. A high-resolution optical imaging system for obtaining the serial transverse section images of biologic tissue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Li; Zhang, Bin; Wu, Ping; Liu, Qian; Gong, Hui

    2007-05-01

    A high-resolution optical imaging system was designed and developed to obtain the serial transverse section images of the biologic tissue, such as the mouse brain, in which new knife-edge imaging technology, high-speed and high-sensitive line-scan CCD and linear air bearing stages were adopted and incorporated with an OLYMPUS microscope. The section images on the tip of the knife-edge were synchronously captured by the reflection imaging in the microscope while cutting the biologic tissue. The biologic tissue can be sectioned at interval of 250 nm with the same resolution of the transverse section images obtained in x and y plane. And the cutting job can be automatically finished based on the control program wrote specially in advance, so we save the mass labor of the registration of the vast images data. In addition, by using this system a larger sample can be cut than conventional ultramicrotome so as to avoid the loss of the tissue structure information because of splitting the tissue sample to meet the size request of the ultramicrotome.

  5. HIGH-RESOLUTION LINEAR POLARIMETRIC IMAGING FOR THE EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chael, Andrew A.; Johnson, Michael D.; Narayan, Ramesh; Doeleman, Sheperd S. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Wardle, John F. C. [Brandeis University, Physics Department, Waltham, MA 02454 (United States); Bouman, Katherine L., E-mail: achael@cfa.harvard.edu [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2016-09-20

    Images of the linear polarizations of synchrotron radiation around active galactic nuclei (AGNs) highlight their projected magnetic field lines and provide key data for understanding the physics of accretion and outflow from supermassive black holes. The highest-resolution polarimetric images of AGNs are produced with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Because VLBI incompletely samples the Fourier transform of the source image, any image reconstruction that fills in unmeasured spatial frequencies will not be unique and reconstruction algorithms are required. In this paper, we explore some extensions of the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) to linear polarimetric VLBI imaging. In contrast to previous work, our polarimetric MEM algorithm combines a Stokes I imager that only uses bispectrum measurements that are immune to atmospheric phase corruption, with a joint Stokes Q and U imager that operates on robust polarimetric ratios. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique on 7 and 3 mm wavelength quasar observations from the VLBA and simulated 1.3 mm Event Horizon Telescope observations of Sgr A* and M87. Consistent with past studies, we find that polarimetric MEM can produce superior resolution compared to the standard CLEAN algorithm, when imaging smooth and compact source distributions. As an imaging framework, MEM is highly adaptable, allowing a range of constraints on polarization structure. Polarimetric MEM is thus an attractive choice for image reconstruction with the EHT.

  6. Smearing model and restoration of star image under conditions of variable angular velocity and long exposure time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Ting; Xing, Fei; You, Zheng; Wang, Xiaochu; Li, Bin

    2014-03-10

    The star tracker is one of the most promising attitude measurement devices widely used in spacecraft for its high accuracy. High dynamic performance is becoming its major restriction, and requires immediate focus and promotion. A star image restoration approach based on the motion degradation model of variable angular velocity is proposed in this paper. This method can overcome the problem of energy dispersion and signal to noise ratio (SNR) decrease resulting from the smearing of the star spot, thus preventing failed extraction and decreased star centroid accuracy. Simulations and laboratory experiments are conducted to verify the proposed methods. The restoration results demonstrate that the described method can recover the star spot from a long motion trail to the shape of Gaussian distribution under the conditions of variable angular velocity and long exposure time. The energy of the star spot can be concentrated to ensure high SNR and high position accuracy. These features are crucial to the subsequent star extraction and the whole performance of the star tracker.

  7. Development of a super-resolution optical microscope for directional dark matter search experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alexandrov, A.; Asada, T.; Consiglio, L.; D'Ambrosio, N.; De Lellis, G.; Di Crescenzo, A.; Di Marco, N.; Furuya, S.; Hakamata, K.; Ishikawa, M.; Katsuragawa, T.; Kuwabara, K.; Machii, S.; Naka, T.; Pupilli, F.; Sirignano, C.; Tawara, Y.; Tioukov, V.; Umemoto, A.; Yoshimoto, M.

    2016-01-01

    Nuclear emulsion is a perfect choice for a detector for directional DM search because of its high density and excellent position accuracy. The minimal detectable track length of a recoil nucleus in emulsion is required to be at least 100 nm, making the resolution of conventional optical microscopes insufficient to resolve them. Here we report about the R&D on a super-resolution optical microscope to be used in future directional DM search experiments with nuclear emulsion as a detector media. The microscope will be fully automatic, will use novel image acquisition and analysis techniques, will achieve the spatial resolution of the order of few tens of nm and will be capable of reconstructing recoil tracks with the length of at least 100 nm with high angular resolution.

  8. A study of interference effects in Na(3S,3P)-Ne, Ar scattering experiments at high angular resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berg, F.T.M. van den.

    1984-01-01

    In this thesis the author presents measurements of differential cross sections for the scattering of Na-atoms in the ground-state and first excited-state by the rare gas atoms Ne and Ar. The scattering experiments were performed in a crossed-beam apparatus built and tested by van Deventer et al. The unique high angular-resolution (0.1 0 ) of this beam-scattering apparatus permits us (i) to remove the discrepancies that still exist between the various X 2 Σ- and A 2 PI-potential curves for Na-Ar and Na-Ne reported up to now, (ii) to obtain detailed information on the B 2 Σ-potentials for these systems and (iii) to demonstrate the necessity of taking into account the spin-uncoupling effects, in the interpretation of the experimental Na-Ne scattering patterns. (Auth.)

  9. Optimized multiple linear mappings for single image super-resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Kaibing; Li, Jie; Xiong, Zenggang; Liu, Xiuping; Gao, Xinbo

    2017-12-01

    Learning piecewise linear regression has been recognized as an effective way for example learning-based single image super-resolution (SR) in literature. In this paper, we employ an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to further improve the SR performance of our previous multiple linear mappings (MLM) based SR method. In the training stage, the proposed method starts with a set of linear regressors obtained by the MLM-based method, and then jointly optimizes the clustering results and the low- and high-resolution subdictionary pairs for regression functions by using the metric of the reconstruction errors. In the test stage, we select the optimal regressor for SR reconstruction by accumulating the reconstruction errors of m-nearest neighbors in the training set. Thorough experimental results carried on six publicly available datasets demonstrate that the proposed SR method can yield high-quality images with finer details and sharper edges in terms of both quantitative and perceptual image quality assessments.

  10. DIfferential Subsampling with Cartesian Ordering (DISCO): a high spatio-temporal resolution Dixon imaging sequence for multiphasic contrast enhanced abdominal imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saranathan, Manojkumar; Rettmann, Dan W; Hargreaves, Brian A; Clarke, Sharon E; Vasanawala, Shreyas S

    2012-06-01

    To develop and evaluate a multiphasic contrast-enhanced MRI method called DIfferential Sub-sampling with Cartesian Ordering (DISCO) for abdominal imaging. A three-dimensional, variable density pseudo-random k-space segmentation scheme was developed and combined with a Dixon-based fat-water separation algorithm to generate high temporal resolution images with robust fat suppression and without compromise in spatial resolution or coverage. With institutional review board approval and informed consent, 11 consecutive patients referred for abdominal MRI at 3 Tesla (T) were imaged with both DISCO and a routine clinical three-dimensional SPGR-Dixon (LAVA FLEX) sequence. All images were graded by two radiologists using quality of fat suppression, severity of artifacts, and overall image quality as scoring criteria. For assessment of arterial phase capture efficiency, the number of temporal phases with angiographic phase and hepatic arterial phase was recorded. There were no significant differences in quality of fat suppression, artifact severity or overall image quality between DISCO and LAVA FLEX images (P > 0.05, Wilcoxon signed rank test). The angiographic and arterial phases were captured in all 11 patients scanned using the DISCO acquisition (mean number of phases were two and three, respectively). DISCO effectively captures the fast dynamics of abdominal pathology such as hyperenhancing hepatic lesions with a high spatio-temporal resolution. Typically, 1.1 × 1.5 × 3 mm spatial resolution over 60 slices was achieved with a temporal resolution of 4-5 s. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Ultra-high-resolution photoelectronic digital radiographic imaging system for medicine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bamford, B.R.; Nudelman, S.; Quimette, D.R.; Ovitt, T.W.; Reisken, A.B.; Spackman, T.J.; Zaccheo, T.S.

    1989-01-01

    The authors report the development of a new type of digital radiographic imaging system for medicine. Unlike previous digital radiographic systems that could not match the spatial resolution of film-screen systems, this system has higher spatial resolution and wider dynamic range than film-screen-based systems. There are three components to the system: a microfocal spot x-ray tube, a camera consisting of a Tektronix TK-2048M 2048 x 2048 CCD image sensor in direct contact with a Kodak Min-R intensifying screen, and a Gould IP-9000 with 2048 x 2048 processing and display capabilities. The CCD image sensor is a large-area integrated circuit and is 55.3 mm x 55.3 mm. It has a linear dynamic range of 12 bits or 4,096 gray levels

  12. Robust Single Image Super-Resolution via Deep Networks With Sparse Prior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ding; Wang, Zhaowen; Wen, Bihan; Yang, Jianchao; Han, Wei; Huang, Thomas S

    2016-07-01

    Single image super-resolution (SR) is an ill-posed problem, which tries to recover a high-resolution image from its low-resolution observation. To regularize the solution of the problem, previous methods have focused on designing good priors for natural images, such as sparse representation, or directly learning the priors from a large data set with models, such as deep neural networks. In this paper, we argue that domain expertise from the conventional sparse coding model can be combined with the key ingredients of deep learning to achieve further improved results. We demonstrate that a sparse coding model particularly designed for SR can be incarnated as a neural network with the merit of end-to-end optimization over training data. The network has a cascaded structure, which boosts the SR performance for both fixed and incremental scaling factors. The proposed training and testing schemes can be extended for robust handling of images with additional degradation, such as noise and blurring. A subjective assessment is conducted and analyzed in order to thoroughly evaluate various SR techniques. Our proposed model is tested on a wide range of images, and it significantly outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods for various scaling factors both quantitatively and perceptually.

  13. High resolution X radiography imaging detector-micro gap chamber

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Long Huqiang; Wang Yun; Xu Dong; Xie Kuanzhong; Bian Jianjiang

    2007-01-01

    Micro gap chamber (MGC) is a new type of Two-Dimensional position sensitive detector having excellent properties on the space and time resolution, counting rate, 2D compact structure and the flexible of application. It will become a candidate of a new tracking detector for high energy physics experiment. The basic structure and properties of MGC as well as its main research subjects are presented in this paper. Furthermore, the feasibility and validity of utilizing diamond films as the MGC gap material were also discussed in detail. So, a potential radiography imaging detector is provided in order to realize X image and X ray diffraction experiment having very good spatial and time resolution in the 3rd Generation of Synchrotron Radiation Facility. (authors)

  14. High Resolution Radar Imaging using Coherent MultiBand Processing Techniques

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dorp, Ph. van; Ebeling, R.P.; Huizing, A.G.

    2010-01-01

    High resolution radar imaging techniques can be used in ballistic missile defence systems to determine the type of ballistic missile during the boost phase (threat typing) and to discriminate different parts of a ballistic missile after the boost phase. The applied radar imaging technique is 2D

  15. Interaction of image noise, spatial resolution, and low contrast fine detail preservation in digital image processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Artmann, Uwe; Wueller, Dietmar

    2009-01-01

    We present a method to improve the validity of noise and resolution measurements on digital cameras. If non-linear adaptive noise reduction is part of the signal processing in the camera, the measurement results for image noise and spatial resolution can be good, while the image quality is low due to the loss of fine details and a watercolor like appearance of the image. To improve the correlation between objective measurement and subjective image quality we propose to supplement the standard test methods with an additional measurement of the texture preserving capabilities of the camera. The proposed method uses a test target showing white Gaussian noise. The camera under test reproduces this target and the image is analyzed. We propose to use the kurtosis of the derivative of the image as a metric for the texture preservation of the camera. Kurtosis is a statistical measure for the closeness of a distribution compared to the Gaussian distribution. It can be shown, that the distribution of digital values in the derivative of the image showing the chart becomes the more leptokurtic (increased kurtosis) the stronger the noise reduction has an impact on the image.

  16. High Resolution Imaging of the Sun with CORONAS-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karovska, Margarita

    1998-01-01

    We applied several image restoration and enhancement techniques, to CORONAS-I images. We carried out the characterization of the Point Spread Function (PSF) using the unique capability of the Blind Iterative Deconvolution (BID) technique, which recovers the real PSF at a given location and time of observation, when limited a priori information is available on its characteristics. We also applied image enhancement technique to extract the small scale structure imbeded in bright large scale structures on the disk and on the limb. The results demonstrate the capability of the image post-processing to substantially increase the yield from the space observations by improving the resolution and reducing noise in the images.

  17. Resolution doubling in 3D-STORM imaging through improved buffers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olivier, Nicolas; Keller, Debora; Gönczy, Pierre; Manley, Suliana

    2013-01-01

    Super-resolution imaging methods have revolutionized fluorescence microscopy by revealing the nanoscale organization of labeled proteins. In particular, single-molecule methods such as Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM) provide resolutions down to a few tens of nanometers by exploiting the cycling of dyes between fluorescent and non-fluorescent states to obtain a sparse population of emitters and precisely localizing them individually. This cycling of dyes is commonly induced by adding different chemicals, which are combined to create a STORM buffer. Despite their importance, the composition of these buffers has scarcely evolved since they were first introduced, fundamentally limiting what can be resolved with STORM. By identifying a new chemical suitable for STORM and optimizing the buffer composition for Alexa-647, we significantly increased the number of photons emitted per cycle by each dye, providing a simple means to enhance the resolution of STORM independently of the optical setup used. Using this buffer to perform 3D-STORM on biological samples, we obtained images with better than 10 nanometer lateral and 30 nanometer axial resolution.

  18. Resolution doubling in 3D-STORM imaging through improved buffers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Olivier

    Full Text Available Super-resolution imaging methods have revolutionized fluorescence microscopy by revealing the nanoscale organization of labeled proteins. In particular, single-molecule methods such as Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM provide resolutions down to a few tens of nanometers by exploiting the cycling of dyes between fluorescent and non-fluorescent states to obtain a sparse population of emitters and precisely localizing them individually. This cycling of dyes is commonly induced by adding different chemicals, which are combined to create a STORM buffer. Despite their importance, the composition of these buffers has scarcely evolved since they were first introduced, fundamentally limiting what can be resolved with STORM. By identifying a new chemical suitable for STORM and optimizing the buffer composition for Alexa-647, we significantly increased the number of photons emitted per cycle by each dye, providing a simple means to enhance the resolution of STORM independently of the optical setup used. Using this buffer to perform 3D-STORM on biological samples, we obtained images with better than 10 nanometer lateral and 30 nanometer axial resolution.

  19. Edge Detection from High Resolution Remote Sensing Images using Two-Dimensional log Gabor Filter in Frequency Domain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, K; Yu, T; Meng, Q Y; Wang, G K; Li, S P; Liu, S H

    2014-01-01

    Edges are vital features to describe the structural information of images, especially high spatial resolution remote sensing images. Edge features can be used to define the boundaries between different ground objects in high spatial resolution remote sensing images. Thus edge detection is important in the remote sensing image processing. Even though many different edge detection algorithms have been proposed, it is difficult to extract the edge features from high spatial resolution remote sensing image including complex ground objects. This paper introduces a novel method to detect edges from the high spatial resolution remote sensing image based on frequency domain. Firstly, the high spatial resolution remote sensing images are Fourier transformed to obtain the magnitude spectrum image (frequency image) by FFT. Then, the frequency spectrum is analyzed by using the radius and angle sampling. Finally, two-dimensional log Gabor filter with optimal parameters is designed according to the result of spectrum analysis. Finally, dot product between the result of Fourier transform and the log Gabor filter is inverse Fourier transformed to obtain the detections. The experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm can detect edge features from the high resolution remote sensing image commendably

  20. Pinhole SPECT: high resolution imaging of brain tumours in small laboratory animals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franceschim, M.; Bokulic, T.; Kusic, Z.; Strand, S.E.; Erlandsson, K.

    1994-01-01

    The performance properties of pinhole SPECT and the application of this technology to evaluate radionuclide uptake in brain in small laboratory animals were investigated. System sensitivity and spatial resolution measurements of a rotating scintillation camera system were made for a low energy pinhole collimator equipped with 2.0 mm aperture pinhole insert. Projection data were acquired at 4 degree increments over 360 degrees in the step and shoot mode using a 4.5 cm radius of rotation. Pinhole planar and SPECT imaging were obtained to evaluate regional uptake of Tl-201, Tc-99m-MIBI, Tc-99m-HMPAO and Tc-99m-DTPA in tumor and control regions of the brain in a primary brain tumor model in Fisher 344 rats. Pinhole SPECT images were reconstructed using a modified cone- beam algorithm developed from a two dimensional fan-beam filtered backprojection algorithm. The reconstructed transaxial resolution of 2.8 FWHM and system sensitivity of 0.086 c/s/kBq with the 2.0 mm pinhole collimator aperture were measured. Tumor to non-tumor uptake ratios at 19-28 days post tumor cell inoculation varied by a factor > 20:1 on SPECT images. Pinhole SPECT provides an important new approach for performing high resolution imaging: the resolution properties of pinhole SPECT are superior to those which have been achieved with conventional SPECT or PET imaging technologies. (author)

  1. Diffusion imaging and tractography of congenital brain malformations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wahl, Michael; Barkovich, A.J.; Mukherjee, Pratik

    2010-01-01

    Diffusion imaging is an MRI modality that measures the microscopic molecular motion of water in order to investigate white matter microstructure. The modality has been used extensively in recent years to investigate the neuroanatomical basis of congenital brain malformations. We review the basic principles of diffusion imaging and of specific techniques, including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). We show how DTI and HARDI, and their application to fiber tractography, has elucidated the aberrant connectivity underlying a number of congenital brain malformations. Finally, we discuss potential uses for diffusion imaging of developmental disorders in the clinical and research realms. (orig.)

  2. Measuring the Angular Velocity of a Propeller with Video Camera Using Electronic Rolling Shutter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yipeng Zhao

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Noncontact measurement for rotational motion has advantages over the traditional method which measures rotational motion by means of installing some devices on the object, such as a rotary encoder. Cameras can be employed as remote monitoring or inspecting sensors to measure the angular velocity of a propeller because of their commonplace availability, simplicity, and potentially low cost. A defect of the measurement with cameras is to process the massive data generated by cameras. In order to reduce the collected data from the camera, a camera using ERS (electronic rolling shutter is applied to measure angular velocities which are higher than the speed of the camera. The effect of rolling shutter can induce geometric distortion in the image, when the propeller rotates during capturing an image. In order to reveal the relationship between the angular velocity and the image distortion, a rotation model has been established. The proposed method was applied to measure the angular velocities of the two-blade propeller and the multiblade propeller. The experimental results showed that this method could detect the angular velocities which were higher than the camera speed, and the accuracy was acceptable.

  3. Ultrafast ultrasound localization microscopy for deep super-resolution vascular imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Errico, Claudia; Pierre, Juliette; Pezet, Sophie; Desailly, Yann; Lenkei, Zsolt; Couture, Olivier; Tanter, Mickael

    2015-11-01

    Non-invasive imaging deep into organs at microscopic scales remains an open quest in biomedical imaging. Although optical microscopy is still limited to surface imaging owing to optical wave diffusion and fast decorrelation in tissue, revolutionary approaches such as fluorescence photo-activated localization microscopy led to a striking increase in resolution by more than an order of magnitude in the last decade. In contrast with optics, ultrasonic waves propagate deep into organs without losing their coherence and are much less affected by in vivo decorrelation processes. However, their resolution is impeded by the fundamental limits of diffraction, which impose a long-standing trade-off between resolution and penetration. This limits clinical and preclinical ultrasound imaging to a sub-millimetre scale. Here we demonstrate in vivo that ultrasound imaging at ultrafast frame rates (more than 500 frames per second) provides an analogue to optical localization microscopy by capturing the transient signal decorrelation of contrast agents—inert gas microbubbles. Ultrafast ultrasound localization microscopy allowed both non-invasive sub-wavelength structural imaging and haemodynamic quantification of rodent cerebral microvessels (less than ten micrometres in diameter) more than ten millimetres below the tissue surface, leading to transcranial whole-brain imaging within short acquisition times (tens of seconds). After intravenous injection, single echoes from individual microbubbles were detected through ultrafast imaging. Their localization, not limited by diffraction, was accumulated over 75,000 images, yielding 1,000,000 events per coronal plane and statistically independent pixels of ten micrometres in size. Precise temporal tracking of microbubble positions allowed us to extract accurately in-plane velocities of the blood flow with a large dynamic range (from one millimetre per second to several centimetres per second). These results pave the way for deep non

  4. Image quality assessment for selfies with and without super resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubota, Aya; Gohshi, Seiichi

    2018-04-01

    With the advent of cellphone cameras, in particular, on smartphones, many people now take photos of themselves alone and with others in the frame; such photos are popularly known as "selfies". Most smartphones are equipped with two cameras: the front-facing and rear cameras. The camera located on the back of the smartphone is referred to as the "out-camera," whereas the one located on the front of the smartphone is called the "in-camera." In-cameras are mainly used for selfies. Some smartphones feature high-resolution cameras. However, the original image quality cannot be obtained because smartphone cameras often have low-performance lenses. Super resolution (SR) is one of the recent technological advancements that has increased image resolution. We developed a new SR technology that can be processed on smartphones. Smartphones with new SR technology are currently available in the market have already registered sales. However, the effective use of new SR technology has not yet been verified. Comparing the image quality with and without SR on smartphone display is necessary to confirm the usefulness of this new technology. Methods that are based on objective and subjective assessments are required to quantitatively measure image quality. It is known that the typical object assessment value, such as Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), does not go together with how we feel when we assess image/video. When digital broadcast started, the standard was determined using subjective assessment. Although subjective assessment usually comes at high cost because of personnel expenses for observers, the results are highly reproducible when they are conducted under right conditions and statistical analysis. In this study, the subjective assessment results for selfie images are reported.

  5. High-resolution retinal imaging using adaptive optics and Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olivier, Scot S.; Werner, John S.; Zawadzki, Robert J.; Laut, Sophie P.; Jones, Steven M.

    2010-09-07

    This invention permits retinal images to be acquired at high speed and with unprecedented resolution in three dimensions (4.times.4.times.6 .mu.m). The instrument achieves high lateral resolution by using adaptive optics to correct optical aberrations of the human eye in real time. High axial resolution and high speed are made possible by the use of Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography. Using this system, we have demonstrated the ability to image microscopic blood vessels and the cone photoreceptor mosaic.

  6. Imaging collagen type I fibrillogenesis with high spatiotemporal resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stamov, Dimitar R; Stock, Erik; Franz, Clemens M; Jähnke, Torsten; Haschke, Heiko

    2015-01-01

    Fibrillar collagens, such as collagen type I, belong to the most abundant extracellular matrix proteins and they have received much attention over the last five decades due to their large interactome, complex hierarchical structure and high mechanical stability. Nevertheless, the collagen self-assembly process is still incompletely understood. Determining the real-time kinetics of collagen type I formation is therefore pivotal for better understanding of collagen type I structure and function, but visualising the dynamic self-assembly process of collagen I on the molecular scale requires imaging techniques offering high spatiotemporal resolution. Fast and high-speed scanning atomic force microscopes (AFM) provide the means to study such processes on the timescale of seconds under near-physiological conditions. In this study we have applied fast AFM tip scanning to study the assembly kinetics of fibrillar collagen type I nanomatrices with a temporal resolution reaching eight seconds for a frame size of 500 nm. By modifying the buffer composition and pH value, the kinetics of collagen fibrillogenesis can be adjusted for optimal analysis by fast AFM scanning. We furthermore show that amplitude-modulation imaging can be successfully applied to extract additional structural information from collagen samples even at high scan rates. Fast AFM scanning with controlled amplitude modulation therefore provides a versatile platform for studying dynamic collagen self-assembly processes at high resolution. - Highlights: • Continuous non-invasive time-lapse investigation of collagen I fibrillogenesis in situ. • Imaging of collagen I self-assembly with high spatiotemporal resolution. • Application of setpoint modulation to study the hierarchical structure of collagen I. • Observing real-time formation of the D-banding pattern in collagen I

  7. Imaging collagen type I fibrillogenesis with high spatiotemporal resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stamov, Dimitar R, E-mail: stamov@jpk.com [JPK Instruments AG, Bouchéstrasse 12, 12435 Berlin (Germany); Stock, Erik [JPK Instruments AG, Bouchéstrasse 12, 12435 Berlin (Germany); Franz, Clemens M [DFG-Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1a, 76131 Karlsruhe (Germany); Jähnke, Torsten; Haschke, Heiko [JPK Instruments AG, Bouchéstrasse 12, 12435 Berlin (Germany)

    2015-02-15

    Fibrillar collagens, such as collagen type I, belong to the most abundant extracellular matrix proteins and they have received much attention over the last five decades due to their large interactome, complex hierarchical structure and high mechanical stability. Nevertheless, the collagen self-assembly process is still incompletely understood. Determining the real-time kinetics of collagen type I formation is therefore pivotal for better understanding of collagen type I structure and function, but visualising the dynamic self-assembly process of collagen I on the molecular scale requires imaging techniques offering high spatiotemporal resolution. Fast and high-speed scanning atomic force microscopes (AFM) provide the means to study such processes on the timescale of seconds under near-physiological conditions. In this study we have applied fast AFM tip scanning to study the assembly kinetics of fibrillar collagen type I nanomatrices with a temporal resolution reaching eight seconds for a frame size of 500 nm. By modifying the buffer composition and pH value, the kinetics of collagen fibrillogenesis can be adjusted for optimal analysis by fast AFM scanning. We furthermore show that amplitude-modulation imaging can be successfully applied to extract additional structural information from collagen samples even at high scan rates. Fast AFM scanning with controlled amplitude modulation therefore provides a versatile platform for studying dynamic collagen self-assembly processes at high resolution. - Highlights: • Continuous non-invasive time-lapse investigation of collagen I fibrillogenesis in situ. • Imaging of collagen I self-assembly with high spatiotemporal resolution. • Application of setpoint modulation to study the hierarchical structure of collagen I. • Observing real-time formation of the D-banding pattern in collagen I.

  8. Live-cell super-resolution imaging of intrinsically fast moving flagellates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glogger, M; Subota, I; Spindler, M-C; Engstler, M; Fenz, S F; Stichler, S; Bertlein, S; Teßmar, J; Groll, J

    2017-01-01

    Recent developments in super-resolution microscopy make it possible to resolve structures in biological cells at a spatial resolution of a few nm and observe dynamical processes with a temporal resolution of ms to μ s. However, the optimal structural resolution requires repeated illumination cycles and is thus limited to chemically fixed cells. For live cell applications substantial improvement over classical Abbe-limited imaging can already be obtained in adherent or slow moving cells. Nonetheless, a large group of cells are fast moving and thus could not yet be addressed with live cell super-resolution microscopy. These include flagellate pathogens like African trypanosomes, the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in livestock. Here, we present an embedding method based on a in situ forming cytocompatible UV-crosslinked hydrogel. The fast cross-linking hydrogel immobilizes trypanosomes efficiently to allow microscopy on the nanoscale. We characterized both the trypanosomes and the hydrogel with respect to their autofluorescence properties and found them suitable for single-molecule fluorescence microscopy (SMFM). As a proof of principle, SMFM was applied to super-resolve a structure inside the living trypanosome. We present an image of a flagellar axoneme component recorded by using the intrinsic blinking behavior of eYFP. (paper)

  9. Remote classification from an airborne camera using image super-resolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Matthew; Katsaggelos, Aggelos

    2017-02-01

    The image processing technique known as super-resolution (SR), which attempts to increase the effective pixel sampling density of a digital imager, has gained rapid popularity over the last decade. The majority of literature focuses on its ability to provide results that are visually pleasing to a human observer. In this paper, we instead examine the ability of SR to improve the resolution-critical capability of an imaging system to perform a classification task from a remote location, specifically from an airborne camera. In order to focus the scope of the study, we address and quantify results for the narrow case of text classification. However, we expect the results generalize to a large set of related, remote classification tasks. We generate theoretical results through simulation, which are corroborated by experiments with a camera mounted on a DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter.

  10. Characteristic evolutions in numerical relativity using six angular patches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reisswig, Christian; Bishop, Nigel T; Lai, Chi Wai; Thornburg, Jonathan; Szilagyi, Bela

    2007-01-01

    The characteristic approach to numerical relativity is a useful tool in evolving gravitational systems. In the past this has been implemented using two patches of stereographic angular coordinates. In other applications, a six-patch angular coordinate system has proved effective. Here we investigate the use of a six-patch system in characteristic numerical relativity, by comparing an existing two-patch implementation (using second-order finite differencing throughout) with a new six-patch implementation (using either second- or fourth-order finite differencing for the angular derivatives). We compare these different codes by monitoring the Einstein constraint equations, numerically evaluated independently from the evolution. We find that, compared to the (second-order) two-patch code at equivalent resolutions, the errors of the second-order six-patch code are smaller by a factor of about 2, and the errors of the fourth-order six-patch code are smaller by a factor of nearly 50

  11. Characteristic evolutions in numerical relativity using six angular patches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reisswig, Christian [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, Am Muehlenberg 1, D-14476 Golm (Germany); Bishop, Nigel T [Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 392, Unisa 0003, South Africa (South Africa); Lai, Chi Wai [Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Africa, PO Box 392, Unisa 0003, South Africa (South Africa); Thornburg, Jonathan [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, Am Muehlenberg 1, D-14476 Golm (Germany); Szilagyi, Bela [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut, Am Muehlenberg 1, D-14476 Golm (Germany)

    2007-06-21

    The characteristic approach to numerical relativity is a useful tool in evolving gravitational systems. In the past this has been implemented using two patches of stereographic angular coordinates. In other applications, a six-patch angular coordinate system has proved effective. Here we investigate the use of a six-patch system in characteristic numerical relativity, by comparing an existing two-patch implementation (using second-order finite differencing throughout) with a new six-patch implementation (using either second- or fourth-order finite differencing for the angular derivatives). We compare these different codes by monitoring the Einstein constraint equations, numerically evaluated independently from the evolution. We find that, compared to the (second-order) two-patch code at equivalent resolutions, the errors of the second-order six-patch code are smaller by a factor of about 2, and the errors of the fourth-order six-patch code are smaller by a factor of nearly 50.

  12. A high-resolution full-field range imaging system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnegie, D. A.; Cree, M. J.; Dorrington, A. A.

    2005-08-01

    There exist a number of applications where the range to all objects in a field of view needs to be obtained. Specific examples include obstacle avoidance for autonomous mobile robots, process automation in assembly factories, surface profiling for shape analysis, and surveying. Ranging systems can be typically characterized as being either laser scanning systems where a laser point is sequentially scanned over a scene or a full-field acquisition where the range to every point in the image is simultaneously obtained. The former offers advantages in terms of range resolution, while the latter tend to be faster and involve no moving parts. We present a system for determining the range to any object within a camera's field of view, at the speed of a full-field system and the range resolution of some point laser scans. Initial results obtained have a centimeter range resolution for a 10 second acquisition time. Modifications to the existing system are discussed that should provide faster results with submillimeter resolution.

  13. Memory-effect based deconvolution microscopy for super-resolution imaging through scattering media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edrei, Eitan; Scarcelli, Giuliano

    2016-09-01

    High-resolution imaging through turbid media is a fundamental challenge of optical sciences that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years for its wide range of potential applications. Here, we demonstrate that the resolution of imaging systems looking behind a highly scattering medium can be improved below the diffraction-limit. To achieve this, we demonstrate a novel microscopy technique enabled by the optical memory effect that uses a deconvolution image processing and thus it does not require iterative focusing, scanning or phase retrieval procedures. We show that this newly established ability of direct imaging through turbid media provides fundamental and practical advantages such as three-dimensional refocusing and unambiguous object reconstruction.

  14. Myocardial Infarction Area Quantification using High-Resolution SPECT Images in Rats

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oliveira, Luciano Fonseca Lemos de [Divisão de Cardiologia, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Mejia, Jorge [Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, SP (Brazil); Carvalho, Eduardo Elias Vieira de; Lataro, Renata Maria; Frassetto, Sarita Nasbine [Divisão de Cardiologia, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Fazan, Rubens Jr.; Salgado, Hélio Cesar [Departamento de Fisiologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Galvis-Alonso, Orfa Yineth [Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto, SP (Brazil); Simões, Marcus Vinícius, E-mail: msimoes@fmrp.usp.br [Divisão de Cardiologia, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil)

    2013-07-15

    Imaging techniques enable in vivo sequential assessment of the morphology and function of animal organs in experimental models. We developed a device for high-resolution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging based on an adapted pinhole collimator. To determine the accuracy of this system for quantification of myocardial infarct area in rats. Thirteen male Wistar rats (250 g) underwent experimental myocardial infarction by occlusion of the left coronary artery. After 4 weeks, SPECT images were acquired 1.5 hours after intravenous injection of 555 MBq of 99mTc-Sestamibi. The tomographic reconstruction was performed by using specially developed software based on the Maximum Likelihood algorithm. The analysis of the data included the correlation between the area of perfusion defects detected by scintigraphy and extent of myocardial fibrosis assessed by histology. The images showed a high target organ/background ratio with adequate visualization of the left ventricular walls and cavity. All animals presenting infarction areas were correctly identified by the perfusion images. There was no difference of the infarct area as measured by SPECT (21.1 ± 21.2%) and by histology (21.7 ± 22.0%; p=0.45). There was a strong correlation between individual values of the area of infarction measured by these two methods. The developed system presented adequate spatial resolution and high accuracy for the detection and quantification of myocardial infarction areas, consisting in a low cost and versatile option for high-resolution SPECT imaging of small rodents.

  15. Novel Super-Resolution Approach to Time-Resolved Volumetric 4-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging With High Spatiotemporal Resolution for Multi-Breathing Cycle Motion Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Guang; Wei, Jie; Kadbi, Mo; Moody, Jason; Sun, August; Zhang, Shirong; Markova, Svetlana; Zakian, Kristen; Hunt, Margie; Deasy, Joseph O.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: To develop and evaluate a super-resolution approach to reconstruct time-resolved 4-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (TR-4DMRI) with a high spatiotemporal resolution for multi-breathing cycle motion assessment. Methods and Materials: A super-resolution approach was developed to combine fast 3-dimensional (3D) cine MRI with low resolution during free breathing (FB) and high-resolution 3D static MRI during breath hold (BH) using deformable image registration. A T1-weighted, turbo field echo sequence, coronal 3D cine acquisition, partial Fourier approximation, and SENSitivity Encoding parallel acceleration were used. The same MRI pulse sequence, field of view, and acceleration techniques were applied in both FB and BH acquisitions; the intensity-based Demons deformable image registration method was used. Under an institutional review board–approved protocol, 7 volunteers were studied with 3D cine FB scan (voxel size: 5 × 5 × 5 mm"3) at 2 Hz for 40 seconds and a 3D static BH scan (2 × 2 × 2 mm"3). To examine the image fidelity of 3D cine and super-resolution TR-4DMRI, a mobile gel phantom with multi-internal targets was scanned at 3 speeds and compared with the 3D static image. Image similarity among 3D cine, 4DMRI, and 3D static was evaluated visually using difference image and quantitatively using voxel intensity correlation and Dice index (phantom only). Multi-breathing-cycle waveforms were extracted and compared in both phantom and volunteer images using the 3D cine as the references. Results: Mild imaging artifacts were found in the 3D cine and TR-4DMRI of the mobile gel phantom with a Dice index of >0.95. Among 7 volunteers, the super-resolution TR-4DMRI yielded high voxel-intensity correlation (0.92 ± 0.05) and low voxel-intensity difference (<0.05). The detected motion differences between TR-4DMRI and 3D cine were −0.2 ± 0.5 mm (phantom) and −0.2 ± 1.9 mm (diaphragms). Conclusion: Super-resolution TR-4DMRI has been

  16. Novel Super-Resolution Approach to Time-Resolved Volumetric 4-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging With High Spatiotemporal Resolution for Multi-Breathing Cycle Motion Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Guang, E-mail: lig2@mskcc.org [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States); Wei, Jie [Department of Computer Science, City College of New York, New York, New York (United States); Kadbi, Mo [Philips Healthcare, MR Therapy Cleveland, Ohio (United States); Moody, Jason; Sun, August; Zhang, Shirong; Markova, Svetlana; Zakian, Kristen; Hunt, Margie; Deasy, Joseph O. [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York (United States)

    2017-06-01

    Purpose: To develop and evaluate a super-resolution approach to reconstruct time-resolved 4-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (TR-4DMRI) with a high spatiotemporal resolution for multi-breathing cycle motion assessment. Methods and Materials: A super-resolution approach was developed to combine fast 3-dimensional (3D) cine MRI with low resolution during free breathing (FB) and high-resolution 3D static MRI during breath hold (BH) using deformable image registration. A T1-weighted, turbo field echo sequence, coronal 3D cine acquisition, partial Fourier approximation, and SENSitivity Encoding parallel acceleration were used. The same MRI pulse sequence, field of view, and acceleration techniques were applied in both FB and BH acquisitions; the intensity-based Demons deformable image registration method was used. Under an institutional review board–approved protocol, 7 volunteers were studied with 3D cine FB scan (voxel size: 5 × 5 × 5 mm{sup 3}) at 2 Hz for 40 seconds and a 3D static BH scan (2 × 2 × 2 mm{sup 3}). To examine the image fidelity of 3D cine and super-resolution TR-4DMRI, a mobile gel phantom with multi-internal targets was scanned at 3 speeds and compared with the 3D static image. Image similarity among 3D cine, 4DMRI, and 3D static was evaluated visually using difference image and quantitatively using voxel intensity correlation and Dice index (phantom only). Multi-breathing-cycle waveforms were extracted and compared in both phantom and volunteer images using the 3D cine as the references. Results: Mild imaging artifacts were found in the 3D cine and TR-4DMRI of the mobile gel phantom with a Dice index of >0.95. Among 7 volunteers, the super-resolution TR-4DMRI yielded high voxel-intensity correlation (0.92 ± 0.05) and low voxel-intensity difference (<0.05). The detected motion differences between TR-4DMRI and 3D cine were −0.2 ± 0.5 mm (phantom) and −0.2 ± 1.9 mm (diaphragms). Conclusion: Super-resolution TR-4

  17. High-resolution 3D laser imaging based on tunable fiber array link

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Sisi; Ruan, Ningjuan; Yang, Song

    2017-10-01

    Airborne photoelectric reconnaissance system with the bore sight down to the ground is an important battlefield situational awareness system, which can be used for reconnaissance and surveillance of complex ground scene. Airborne 3D imaging Lidar system is recognized as the most potential candidates for target detection under the complex background, and is progressing in the directions of high resolution, long distance detection, high sensitivity, low power consumption, high reliability, eye safe and multi-functional. However, the traditional 3D laser imaging system has the disadvantages of lower imaging resolutions because of the small size of the existing detector, and large volume. This paper proposes a high resolution laser 3D imaging technology based on the tunable optical fiber array link. The echo signal is modulated by a tunable optical fiber array link and then transmitted to the focal plane detector. The detector converts the optical signal into electrical signals which is given to the computer. Then, the computer accomplishes the signal calculation and image restoration based on modulation information, and then reconstructs the target image. This paper establishes the mathematical model of tunable optical fiber array signal receiving link, and proposes the simulation and analysis of the affect factors on high density multidimensional point cloud reconstruction.

  18. The inelastic contribution to high resolution images of defects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krivanek, O.L.; Ahn, C.C.; Wood, G.J.

    1990-01-01

    The importance of the contribution due to inelastically scattered electrons to unfiltered HREM images is examined, with emphasis on imaging of defects in semiconductors. Whenever the low energy loss spectrum contains sharp peaks, the contribution is not featureless. At specimen thickness of a few tens of nm, it may change the image appearance in a major way. The strongest effect occurs in high resolution, medium voltage (200 to 500 kV) electron microscope images of defects at focus values minimizing the contrast of the elastic image in low Z materials such as Al and Si. In higher Z materials or those with no sharp 'plasmons', the contribution is small. 23 refs., 8 figs

  19. Waveguide image-slicers for ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckert, Erik; Strassmeier, Klaus G.; Woche, Manfred; Eberhardt, Ramona; Tünnermann, Andreas; Andersen, Michael

    2008-07-01

    Waveguide image-slicer prototypes with resolutions up to 310.000 for the fiber fed PEPSI echelle spectrograph at the LBT and single waveguide thicknesses of down to 30 μm have been manufactured. The waveguides were macroscopically prepared, stacked up to an order of 7 and thinned back to square stack cross sections. A high filling ratio was achieved by realizing homogenous adhesive gaps of 4.6 μm, using index matching adhesives for TIR within the waveguides. The image-slicer stacks can be used in immersion mode and are miniaturized to be implemented in a set of four, measurements indicate an overall efficiency of above 80% for them.

  20. Image thresholding in the high resolution target movement monitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moss, Randy H.; Watkins, Steve E.; Jones, Tristan H.; Apel, Derek B.; Bairineni, Deepti

    2009-03-01

    Image thresholding in the High Resolution Target Movement Monitor (HRTMM) is examined. The HRTMM was developed at the Missouri University of Science and Technology to detect and measure wall movements in underground mines to help reduce fatality and injury rates. The system detects the movement of a target with sub-millimeter accuracy based on the images of one or more laser dots projected on the target and viewed by a high-resolution camera. The relative position of the centroid of the laser dot (determined by software using thresholding concepts) in the images is the key factor in detecting the target movement. Prior versions of the HRTMM set the image threshold based on a manual, visual examination of the images. This work systematically examines the effect of varying threshold on the calculated centroid position and describes an algorithm for determining a threshold setting. First, the thresholding effects on the centroid position are determined for a stationary target. Plots of the centroid positions as a function of varying thresholds are obtained to identify clusters of thresholds for which the centroid position does not change for stationary targets. Second, the target is moved away from the camera in sub-millimeter increments and several images are obtained at each position and analyzed as a function of centroid position, target movement and varying threshold values. With this approach, the HRTMM can accommodate images in batch mode without the need for manual intervention. The capability for the HRTMM to provide automated, continuous monitoring of wall movement is enhanced.

  1. MPGD for breast cancer prevention: a high resolution and low dose radiation medical imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutierrez, R. M.; Cerquera, E. A.; Mañana, G.

    2012-07-01

    Early detection of small calcifications in mammograms is considered the best preventive tool of breast cancer. However, existing digital mammography with relatively low radiation skin exposure has limited accessibility and insufficient spatial resolution for small calcification detection. Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD) and associated technologies, increasingly provide new information useful to generate images of microscopic structures and make more accessible cutting edge technology for medical imaging and many other applications. In this work we foresee and develop an application for the new information provided by a MPGD camera in the form of highly controlled images with high dynamical resolution. We present a new Super Detail Image (S-DI) that efficiently profits of this new information provided by the MPGD camera to obtain very high spatial resolution images. Therefore, the method presented in this work shows that the MPGD camera with SD-I, can produce mammograms with the necessary spatial resolution to detect microcalcifications. It would substantially increase efficiency and accessibility of screening mammography to highly improve breast cancer prevention.

  2. A full-sky, high-resolution atlas of galactic 12 μm dust emission with WISE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meisner, Aaron M.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.

    2014-01-01

    We describe our custom processing of the entire Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) 12 μm imaging data set, and present a high-resolution, full-sky map of diffuse Galactic dust emission that is free of compact sources and other contaminating artifacts. The principal distinctions between our resulting co-added images and the WISE Atlas stacks are our removal of compact sources, including their associated electronic and optical artifacts, and our preservation of spatial modes larger than 1.°5. We provide access to the resulting full-sky map via a set of 430 12.°5 × 12.°5 mosaics. These stacks have been smoothed to 15'' resolution and are accompanied by corresponding coverage maps, artifact images, and bit-masks for point sources, resolved compact sources, and other defects. When combined appropriately with other mid-infrared and far-infrared data sets, we expect our WISE 12 μm co-adds to form the basis for a full-sky dust extinction map with angular resolution several times better than Schlegel et al.

  3. Change of spatial information under rescaling: A case study using multi-resolution image series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Weirong; Henebry, Geoffrey M.

    Spatial structure in imagery depends on a complicated interaction between the observational regime and the types and arrangements of entities within the scene that the image portrays. Although block averaging of pixels has commonly been used to simulate coarser resolution imagery, relatively little attention has been focused on the effects of simple rescaling on spatial structure and the explanation and a possible solution to the problem. Yet, if there are significant differences in spatial variance between rescaled and observed images, it may affect the reliability of retrieved biogeophysical quantities. To investigate these issues, a nested series of high spatial resolution digital imagery was collected at a research site in eastern Nebraska in 2001. An airborne Kodak DCS420IR camera acquired imagery at three altitudes, yielding nominal spatial resolutions ranging from 0.187 m to 1 m. The red and near infrared (NIR) bands of the co-registered image series were normalized using pseudo-invariant features, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated. Plots of grain sorghum planted in orthogonal crop row orientations were extracted from the image series. The finest spatial resolution data were then rescaled by averaging blocks of pixels to produce a rescaled image series that closely matched the spatial resolution of the observed image series. Spatial structures of the observed and rescaled image series were characterized using semivariogram analysis. Results for NDVI and its component bands show, as expected, that decreasing spatial resolution leads to decreasing spatial variability and increasing spatial dependence. However, compared to the observed data, the rescaled images contain more persistent spatial structure that exhibits limited variation in both spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. Rescaling via simple block averaging fails to consider the effect of scene object shape and extent on spatial information. As the features

  4. RELATIVE ORIENTATION AND MODIFIED PIECEWISE EPIPOLAR RESAMPLING FOR HIGH RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Gong

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available High resolution, optical satellite sensors are boosted to a new era in the last few years, because satellite stereo images at half meter or even 30cm resolution are available. Nowadays, high resolution satellite image data have been commonly used for Digital Surface Model (DSM generation and 3D reconstruction. It is common that the Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPCs provided by the vendors have rough precision and there is no ground control information available to refine the RPCs. Therefore, we present two relative orientation methods by using corresponding image points only: the first method will use quasi ground control information, which is generated from the corresponding points and rough RPCs, for the bias-compensation model; the second method will estimate the relative pointing errors on the matching image and remove this error by an affine model. Both methods do not need ground control information and are applied for the entire image. To get very dense point clouds, the Semi-Global Matching (SGM method is an efficient tool. However, before accomplishing the matching process the epipolar constraints are required. In most conditions, satellite images have very large dimensions, contrary to the epipolar geometry generation and image resampling, which is usually carried out in small tiles. This paper also presents a modified piecewise epipolar resampling method for the entire image without tiling. The quality of the proposed relative orientation and epipolar resampling method are evaluated, and finally sub-pixel accuracy has been achieved in our work.

  5. Pyramidal Watershed Segmentation Algorithm for High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images Using Discrete Wavelet Transforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Parvathi

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The watershed transformation is a useful morphological segmentation tool for a variety of grey-scale images. However, over segmentation and under segmentation have become the key problems for the conventional algorithm. In this paper, an efficient segmentation method for high-resolution remote sensing image analysis is presented. Wavelet analysis is one of the most popular techniques that can be used to detect local intensity variation and hence the wavelet transformation is used to analyze the image. Wavelet transform is applied to the image, producing detail (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal and Approximation coefficients. The image gradient with selective regional minima is estimated with the grey-scale morphology for the Approximation image at a suitable resolution, and then the watershed is applied to the gradient image to avoid over segmentation. The segmented image is projected up to high resolutions using the inverse wavelet transform. The watershed segmentation is applied to small subset size image, demanding less computational time. We have applied our new approach to analyze remote sensing images. The algorithm was implemented in MATLAB. Experimental results demonstrated the method to be effective.

  6. Single image super-resolution based on compressive sensing and improved TV minimization sparse recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vishnukumar, S.; Wilscy, M.

    2017-12-01

    In this paper, we propose a single image Super-Resolution (SR) method based on Compressive Sensing (CS) and Improved Total Variation (TV) Minimization Sparse Recovery. In the CS framework, low-resolution (LR) image is treated as the compressed version of high-resolution (HR) image. Dictionary Training and Sparse Recovery are the two phases of the method. K-Singular Value Decomposition (K-SVD) method is used for dictionary training and the dictionary represents HR image patches in a sparse manner. Here, only the interpolated version of the LR image is used for training purpose and thereby the structural self similarity inherent in the LR image is exploited. In the sparse recovery phase the sparse representation coefficients with respect to the trained dictionary for LR image patches are derived using Improved TV Minimization method. HR image can be reconstructed by the linear combination of the dictionary and the sparse coefficients. The experimental results show that the proposed method gives better results quantitatively as well as qualitatively on both natural and remote sensing images. The reconstructed images have better visual quality since edges and other sharp details are preserved.

  7. Image inpainting and super-resolution using non-local recursive deep convolutional network with skip connections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Miaofeng

    2017-07-01

    In recent years, deep convolutional neural networks come into use in image inpainting and super-resolution in many fields. Distinct to most of the former methods requiring to know beforehand the local information for corrupted pixels, we propose a 20-depth fully convolutional network to learn an end-to-end mapping a dataset of damaged/ground truth subimage pairs realizing non-local blind inpainting and super-resolution. As there often exist image with huge corruptions or inpainting on a low-resolution image that the existing approaches unable to perform well, we also share parameters in local area of layers to achieve spatial recursion and enlarge the receptive field. To avoid the difficulty of training this deep neural network, skip-connections between symmetric convolutional layers are designed. Experimental results shows that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods for diverse corrupting and low-resolution conditions, it works excellently when realizing super-resolution and image inpainting simultaneously

  8. High-resolution MR imaging of the knee at 3 T

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niitsu, M.; Nakai, T.; Ikeda, K.; Tang, G.Y.; Yoshioka, H.; Itai, Y. [Tsukuba Univ., Ibaraki (Japan). Dept. of Radiology

    2000-07-01

    In order to examine the practical feasibility of using a 3.0-T MR unit to obtain high-quality, high-resolution images of the knee joint, one human cadaveric and 5 porcine knees were imaged with the 3.0-T unit. Sets of T1-weighted spin echo images were obtained with in-plane resolution of 0.195x0.39 mm and an acquisition time of approximately 5 min. Two porcine knees were also imaged with the 1.0-T unit with an identical imaging protocol and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios were measured on images at 3 T and 1 T. The 3-T MR system provided detailed delineation of the knees. Deep layers of the medial collateral ligament and associated fine fibers beneath the medial and lateral collateral ligament were demarcated. We observed precise demonstration of the tibial attachment of the anterior cruciate ligament, irregularity of the meniscal free edge, and conjoint tendon formation together with the lateral collateral ligament and the biceps femoris tendon. Compared to the 1-T unit, the S/N ratio with the 3-T unit was increased by a factor of 1.39 to 1.72. Due to the potential advantage of obtaining detailed images, the 3-T MR system suggests a practical utility for fine demonstration of the knee morphology.

  9. High-resolution MR imaging of the knee at 3 T

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niitsu, M.; Nakai, T.; Ikeda, K.; Tang, G.Y.; Yoshioka, H.; Itai, Y.

    2000-01-01

    In order to examine the practical feasibility of using a 3.0-T MR unit to obtain high-quality, high-resolution images of the knee joint, one human cadaveric and 5 porcine knees were imaged with the 3.0-T unit. Sets of T1-weighted spin echo images were obtained with in-plane resolution of 0.195x0.39 mm and an acquisition time of approximately 5 min. Two porcine knees were also imaged with the 1.0-T unit with an identical imaging protocol and the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios were measured on images at 3 T and 1 T. The 3-T MR system provided detailed delineation of the knees. Deep layers of the medial collateral ligament and associated fine fibers beneath the medial and lateral collateral ligament were demarcated. We observed precise demonstration of the tibial attachment of the anterior cruciate ligament, irregularity of the meniscal free edge, and conjoint tendon formation together with the lateral collateral ligament and the biceps femoris tendon. Compared to the 1-T unit, the S/N ratio with the 3-T unit was increased by a factor of 1.39 to 1.72. Due to the potential advantage of obtaining detailed images, the 3-T MR system suggests a practical utility for fine demonstration of the knee morphology

  10. Precision controlled atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy using spiral scan pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sang, Xiahan; Lupini, Andrew R.; Ding, Jilai; Kalinin, Sergei V.; Jesse, Stephen; Unocic, Raymond R.

    2017-03-01

    Atomic-resolution imaging in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) can enable direct correlation between atomic structure and materials functionality. The fast and precise control of the STEM probe is, however, challenging because the true beam location deviates from the assigned location depending on the properties of the deflectors. To reduce these deviations, i.e. image distortions, we use spiral scanning paths, allowing precise control of a sub-Å sized electron probe within an aberration-corrected STEM. Although spiral scanning avoids the sudden changes in the beam location (fly-back distortion) present in conventional raster scans, it is not distortion-free. “Archimedean” spirals, with a constant angular frequency within each scan, are used to determine the characteristic response at different frequencies. We then show that such characteristic functions can be used to correct image distortions present in more complicated constant linear velocity spirals, where the frequency varies within each scan. Through the combined application of constant linear velocity scanning and beam path corrections, spiral scan images are shown to exhibit less scan distortion than conventional raster scan images. The methodology presented here will be useful for in situ STEM imaging at higher temporal resolution and for imaging beam sensitive materials.

  11. Multi-Shell Hybrid Diffusion Imaging (HYDI) at 7 Tesla in TgF344-AD Transgenic Alzheimer Rats

    OpenAIRE

    Daianu, Madelaine; Jacobs, Russell E.; Weitz, Tara M.; Town, Terrence C.; Thompson, Paul M.

    2015-01-01

    Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is widely used to study microstructural characteristics of the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and high-angular resolution imaging (HARDI) are frequently used in radiology and neuroscience research but can be limited in describing the signal behavior in composite nerve fiber structures. Here, we developed and assessed the benefit of a comprehensive diffusion encoding scheme, known as hybrid diffusion imaging (HYDI), composed of 300 DWI volumes acquired a...

  12. High-resolution satellite image segmentation using Hölder exponents

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Keywords. High resolution image; texture analysis; segmentation; IKONOS; Hölder exponent; cluster. ... are that. • it can be used as a tool to measure the roughness ... uses reinforcement learning to learn the reward values of ..... The numerical.

  13. The Generalized Gamma-DBN for High-Resolution SAR Image Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiqiang Zhao

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available With the increase of resolution, effective characterization of synthetic aperture radar (SAR image becomes one of the most critical problems in many earth observation applications. Inspired by deep learning and probability mixture models, a generalized Gamma deep belief network (g Γ-DBN is proposed for SAR image statistical modeling and land-cover classification in this work. Specifically, a generalized Gamma-Bernoulli restricted Boltzmann machine (gΓB-RBM is proposed to capture high-order statistical characterizes from SAR images after introducing the generalized Gamma distribution. After stacking the g Γ B-RBM and several standard binary RBMs in a hierarchical manner, a gΓ-DBN is constructed to learn high-level representation of different SAR land-covers. Finally, a discriminative neural network is constructed by adding an additional predict layer for different land-covers over the constructed deep structure. Performance of the proposed approach is evaluated via several experiments on some high-resolution SAR image patch sets and two large-scale scenes which are captured by ALOS PALSAR-2 and COSMO-SkyMed satellites respectively.

  14. Polarization-Dependent Measurements of Molecular Super Rotors with Oriented Angular Momenta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Matthew J.; Toro, Carlos; Liu, Qingnan; Mullin, Amy S.

    2014-05-01

    Controlling molecular motion would enable manipulation of energy flow between molecules. Here we have used an optical centrifuge to investigate energy transfer between molecular super rotors with oriented angular momenta. The polarizable electron cloud of the molecules interacts with the electric field of linearly polarized light that angularly accelerates over the time of the optical pulse. This process drives molecules into high angular momentum states that are oriented with the optical field and have energies far from equilibrium. High resolution transient IR spectroscopy reveals the dynamics of collisional energy transfer for these super excited rotors. The results of this study leads to a more fundamental understanding of energy balance in non-equilibrium environments and the physical and chemical properties of gases in a new regime of energy states. Results will be presented for several super rotor species including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and acetylene. Polarization-dependent measurements reveal the extent to which the super rotors maintain spatial orientation of high angular momentum states.

  15. Fusion of lens-free microscopy and mobile-phone microscopy images for high-color-accuracy and high-resolution pathology imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yibo; Wu, Yichen; Zhang, Yun; Ozcan, Aydogan

    2017-03-01

    Digital pathology and telepathology require imaging tools with high-throughput, high-resolution and accurate color reproduction. Lens-free on-chip microscopy based on digital in-line holography is a promising technique towards these needs, as it offers a wide field of view (FOV >20 mm2) and high resolution with a compact, low-cost and portable setup. Color imaging has been previously demonstrated by combining reconstructed images at three discrete wavelengths in the red, green and blue parts of the visible spectrum, i.e., the RGB combination method. However, this RGB combination method is subject to color distortions. To improve the color performance of lens-free microscopy for pathology imaging, here we present a wavelet-based color fusion imaging framework, termed "digital color fusion microscopy" (DCFM), which digitally fuses together a grayscale lens-free microscope image taken at a single wavelength and a low-resolution and low-magnification color-calibrated image taken by a lens-based microscope, which can simply be a mobile phone based cost-effective microscope. We show that the imaging results of an H&E stained breast cancer tissue slide with the DCFM technique come very close to a color-calibrated microscope using a 40x objective lens with 0.75 NA. Quantitative comparison showed 2-fold reduction in the mean color distance using the DCFM method compared to the RGB combination method, while also preserving the high-resolution features of the lens-free microscope. Due to the cost-effective and field-portable nature of both lens-free and mobile-phone microscopy techniques, their combination through the DCFM framework could be useful for digital pathology and telepathology applications, in low-resource and point-of-care settings.

  16. High resolution monochromatic X-ray imaging system based on spherically bent crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aglitskiy, Y.; Lehecka, T.; Obenschain, S.; Bodner, S.; Pawley, C.; Gerber, K.; Sethian, J.; Brown, C. M.; Seely, J.; Feldman, U.; Holland, G.

    1997-01-01

    We have developed a new X-ray imaging system based on spherically curved crystals. It is designed and used for diagnostics of targets ablatively accelerated by the Nike KrF laser. The imaging system is used for plasma diagnostics of the main target and for characterization of potential backlighters. A spherically curved quartz crystal (2d=6.687 A, R=200 mm) is used to produce monochromatic backlit images with the He-like Si resonance line (1865 eV) as the source of radiation. The spatial resolution of the X-ray optical system is 3-4 μm. Time resolved backlit monochromatic images of CH planar targets driven by the Nike facility have been obtained with 6-7 μm spatial resolution

  17. Atomic resolution imaging of ferroelectric domains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bursill, L.A.

    1997-01-01

    Electron optical principles involved in obtaining atomic resolution images of ferroelectric domains are reviewed, including the methods available to obtain meaningful interpretation and analysis of the image detail in terms of the atomic structures. Recent work is concerned with establishing the relationship between the essentially static chemical nanodomains and the spatial and temporal fluctuations of the nanoscale polar domains present in the relaxor class of materials, including lead scandium tantalate (PST) and lead magnesium niobate (PMN). Correct interpretation of the images required use of Next Nearest Neighbour Ising model simulations for the chemical domain textures upon which we must superimpose the polar domain textures; an introduction to this work is presented. A thorough analysis of the atomic scale chemical inhomogeneities, based upon the HRTEM results, has lead to an improved formulation of the theory of the dielectric response of PMN and PST, which is capable to predict the observed temperature and frequency dependence. HRTEM may be combined with solid state and statistical physics principles to provide a deeper understanding of structure/property relationships. 15 refs., 6 figs

  18. Real-time and quantitative isotropic spatial resolution susceptibility imaging for magnetic nanoparticles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pi, Shiqiang; Liu, Wenzhong; Jiang, Tao

    2018-03-01

    The magnetic transparency of biological tissue allows the magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) to be a promising functional sensor and contrast agent. The complex susceptibility of MNPs, strongly influenced by particle concentration, excitation magnetic field and their surrounding microenvironment, provides significant implications for biomedical applications. Therefore, magnetic susceptibility imaging of high spatial resolution will give more detailed information during the process of MNP-aided diagnosis and therapy. In this study, we present a novel spatial magnetic susceptibility extraction method for MNPs under a gradient magnetic field, a low-frequency drive magnetic field, and a weak strength high-frequency magnetic field. Based on this novel method, a magnetic particle susceptibility imaging (MPSI) of millimeter-level spatial resolution (<3 mm) was achieved using our homemade imaging system. Corroborated by the experimental results, the MPSI shows real-time (1 s per frame acquisition) and quantitative abilities, and isotropic high resolution.

  19. Large-area super-resolution optical imaging by using core-shell microfibers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Cheng-Yang; Lo, Wei-Chieh

    2017-09-01

    We first numerically and experimentally report large-area super-resolution optical imaging achieved by using core-shell microfibers. The particular spatial electromagnetic waves for different core-shell microfibers are studied by using finite-difference time-domain and ray tracing calculations. The focusing properties of photonic nanojets are evaluated in terms of intensity profile and full width at half-maximum along propagation and transversal directions. In experiment, the general optical fiber is chemically etched down to 6 μm diameter and coated with different metallic thin films by using glancing angle deposition. The direct imaging of photonic nanojets for different core-shell microfibers is performed with a scanning optical microscope system. We show that the intensity distribution of a photonic nanojet is highly related to the metallic shell due to the surface plasmon polaritons. Furthermore, large-area super-resolution optical imaging is performed by using different core-shell microfibers placed over the nano-scale grating with 150 nm line width. The core-shell microfiber-assisted imaging is achieved with super-resolution and hundreds of times the field-of-view in contrast to microspheres. The possible applications of these core-shell optical microfibers include real-time large-area micro-fluidics and nano-structure inspections.

  20. Nonlinear Optics Approaches Towards Subdiffraction Resolution in CARS Imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boller, Klaus J.; Beeker, W.P.; Cleff, C.; Kruse, K.; Lee, Christopher James; Gross, P.; Offerhaus, Herman L.; Fallnich, Carsten; Herek, Jennifer Lynn; Fornasiero, E.F.; Rizzoli, S.O.

    2014-01-01

    In theoretical investigations, we review several nonlinear optical approaches towards subdiffraction-limited resolution in label-free imaging via coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). Using a density matrix model and numerical integration, we investigate various level schemes and

  1. Development of an ultrahigh-resolution Si-PM-based dual-head GAGG coincidence imaging system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Seiichi; Watabe, Hiroshi; Kanai, Yasukazu; Kato, Katsuhiko; Hatazawa, Jun

    2013-03-01

    A silicon photomultiplier (Si-PM) is a promising photodetector for high resolution PET systems due to its small channel size and high gain. Using Si-PMs, it will be possible to develop a high resolution imaging systems. For this purpose, we developed a small field-of-view (FOV) ultrahigh-resolution Si-PM-based dual-head coincidence imaging system for small animals and plant research. A new scintillator, Ce doped Gd3Al12Ga3O12 (GAGG), was selected because of its high light output and its emission wavelength matched with the Si-PM arrays and contained no radioactivity. Each coincidence imaging block detector consists of 0.5×0.5×5 mm3 GAGG pixels combined with a 0.1-mm thick reflector to form a 20×17 matrix that was optically coupled to a Si-PM array (Hamamatsu MPPC S11064-050P) with a 1.5-mm thick light guide. The GAGG block size was 12.0×10.2 mm2. Two GAGG block detectors were positioned face to face and set on a flexible arm based detector stand. All 0.5 mm GAGG pixels in the block detectors were clearly resolved in the 2-dimensional position histogram. The energy resolution was 14.4% FWHM for the Cs-137 gamma ray. The spatial resolution was 0.7 mm FWHM measured using a 0.25 mm diameter Na-22 point source. Small animal and plant images were successfully obtained. We conclude that our developed ultrahigh-resolution Si-PM-based dual-head coincidence imaging system is promising for small animal and plant imaging research.

  2. Optimization of Monochromated TEM for Ultimate Resolution Imaging and Ultrahigh Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

    KAUST Repository

    Lopatin, Sergei; Cheng, Bin; Liu, Wei-Ting; Tsai, Meng-Lin; He, Jr-Hau; Chuvilin, Andrey

    2017-01-01

    The performance of a monochromated transmission electron microscope with Wien type monochromator is optimized to achieve an extremely narrow energy spread of electron beam and an ultrahigh energy resolution with spectroscopy. The energy spread in the beam is improved by almost an order of magnitude as compared to specified values. The optimization involves both the monochromator and the electron energy loss detection system. We demonstrate boosted capability of optimized systems with respect to ultra-low loss EELS and sub-angstrom resolution imaging (in a combination with spherical aberration correction).

  3. Optimization of Monochromated TEM for Ultimate Resolution Imaging and Ultrahigh Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

    KAUST Repository

    Lopatin, Sergei

    2017-09-01

    The performance of a monochromated transmission electron microscope with Wien type monochromator is optimized to achieve an extremely narrow energy spread of electron beam and an ultrahigh energy resolution with spectroscopy. The energy spread in the beam is improved by almost an order of magnitude as compared to specified values. The optimization involves both the monochromator and the electron energy loss detection system. We demonstrate boosted capability of optimized systems with respect to ultra-low loss EELS and sub-angstrom resolution imaging (in a combination with spherical aberration correction).

  4. WE-G-17A-01: Improving Tracking Image Spatial Resolution for Onboard MR Image Guided Radiation Therapy Using the WHISKEE Technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu, Y; Mutic, S; Du, D; Green, O [Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO (United States); Zeng, Q; Nana, R; Patrick, J; Shvartsman, S; Dempsey, J [ViewRay Incorporated, Oakwood Village, OH (United States)

    2014-06-15

    Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using the weighted hybrid iterative spiral k-space encoded estimation (WHISKEE) technique to improve spatial resolution of tracking images for onboard MR image guided radiation therapy (MR-IGRT). Methods: MR tracking images of abdomen and pelvis had been acquired from healthy volunteers using the ViewRay onboard MRIGRT system (ViewRay Inc. Oakwood Village, OH) at a spatial resolution of 2.0mm*2.0mm*5.0mm. The tracking MR images were acquired using the TrueFISP sequence. The temporal resolution had to be traded off to 2 frames per second (FPS) to achieve the 2.0mm in-plane spatial resolution. All MR images were imported into the MATLAB software. K-space data were synthesized through the Fourier Transform of the MR images. A mask was created to selected k-space points that corresponded to the under-sampled spiral k-space trajectory with an acceleration (or undersampling) factor of 3. The mask was applied to the fully sampled k-space data to synthesize the undersampled k-space data. The WHISKEE method was applied to the synthesized undersampled k-space data to reconstructed tracking MR images at 6 FPS. As a comparison, the undersampled k-space data were also reconstructed using the zero-padding technique. The reconstructed images were compared to the original image. The relatively reconstruction error was evaluated using the percentage of the norm of the differential image over the norm of the original image. Results: Compared to the zero-padding technique, the WHISKEE method was able to reconstruct MR images with better image quality. It significantly reduced the relative reconstruction error from 39.5% to 3.1% for the pelvis image and from 41.5% to 4.6% for the abdomen image at an acceleration factor of 3. Conclusion: We demonstrated that it was possible to use the WHISKEE method to expedite MR image acquisition for onboard MR-IGRT systems to achieve good spatial and temporal resolutions simultaneously. Y. Hu and O. green

  5. WE-G-17A-01: Improving Tracking Image Spatial Resolution for Onboard MR Image Guided Radiation Therapy Using the WHISKEE Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu, Y; Mutic, S; Du, D; Green, O; Zeng, Q; Nana, R; Patrick, J; Shvartsman, S; Dempsey, J

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using the weighted hybrid iterative spiral k-space encoded estimation (WHISKEE) technique to improve spatial resolution of tracking images for onboard MR image guided radiation therapy (MR-IGRT). Methods: MR tracking images of abdomen and pelvis had been acquired from healthy volunteers using the ViewRay onboard MRIGRT system (ViewRay Inc. Oakwood Village, OH) at a spatial resolution of 2.0mm*2.0mm*5.0mm. The tracking MR images were acquired using the TrueFISP sequence. The temporal resolution had to be traded off to 2 frames per second (FPS) to achieve the 2.0mm in-plane spatial resolution. All MR images were imported into the MATLAB software. K-space data were synthesized through the Fourier Transform of the MR images. A mask was created to selected k-space points that corresponded to the under-sampled spiral k-space trajectory with an acceleration (or undersampling) factor of 3. The mask was applied to the fully sampled k-space data to synthesize the undersampled k-space data. The WHISKEE method was applied to the synthesized undersampled k-space data to reconstructed tracking MR images at 6 FPS. As a comparison, the undersampled k-space data were also reconstructed using the zero-padding technique. The reconstructed images were compared to the original image. The relatively reconstruction error was evaluated using the percentage of the norm of the differential image over the norm of the original image. Results: Compared to the zero-padding technique, the WHISKEE method was able to reconstruct MR images with better image quality. It significantly reduced the relative reconstruction error from 39.5% to 3.1% for the pelvis image and from 41.5% to 4.6% for the abdomen image at an acceleration factor of 3. Conclusion: We demonstrated that it was possible to use the WHISKEE method to expedite MR image acquisition for onboard MR-IGRT systems to achieve good spatial and temporal resolutions simultaneously. Y. Hu and O. green

  6. Tip-tilt compensation: Resolution limits for ground-based telescopes using laser guide star adaptive optics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olivier, S.S.; Max, C.E.; Gavel, D.T.; Brase, J.M.

    1992-01-01

    The angular resolution of long-exposure images from ground-based telescopes equipped with laser guide star adaptive optics systems is fundamentally limited by the the accuracy with which the tip-tilt aberrations introduced by the atmosphere can be corrected. Assuming that a natural star is used as the tilt reference, the residual error due to tilt anisoplanatism can significantly degrade the long-exposure resolution even if the tilt reference star is separated from the object being imaged by a small angle. Given the observed distribution of stars in the sky, the need to find a tilt reference star quite close to the object restricts the fraction of the sky over which long-exposure images with diffraction limited resolution can be obtained. In this paper, the authors present a comprehensive performance analysis of tip-tilt compensation systems that use a natural star as a tilt reference, taking into account properties of the atmosphere and of the Galactic stellar populations, and optimizing over the system operating parameters to determine the fundamental limits to the long-exposure resolution. Their results show that for a ten meter telescope on Mauna Kea, if the image of the tilt reference star is uncorrected, about half the sky can be imaged in the V band with long-exposure resolution less than 60 milli-arc-seconds (mas), while if the image of the tilt reference star is fully corrected, about half the sky can be imaged in the V band with long-exposure resolution less than 16 mas. Furthermore, V band images long-exposure resolution of less than 16 mas may be obtained with a ten meter telescope on Mauna Kea for unresolved objects brighter than magnitude 22 that are fully corrected by a laser guide star adaptive optics system. This level of resolution represents about 70% of the diffraction limit of a ten meter telescope in the V band and is more than a factor of 45 better than the median seeing in the V band on Mauna Kea

  7. Contrast enhancement of microsphere-assisted super-resolution imaging in dark-field microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yi; Tang, Yan; Deng, Qinyuan; Zhao, Lixin; Hu, Song

    2017-08-01

    We report a method of boosting the imaging contrast of microsphere-assisted super-resolution visualization by utilizing dark-field illumination (DFI). We conducted experiments on both 10-µm-diameter silica (SiO2) microspheres with refractive index n ∼ 1.46 under no and partial immersion in ethyl alcohol (n ∼ 1.36) and 20-µm-diameter barium titanate glass (BTG, n ∼ 1.9) microspheres with full immersion to show the super-resolution capability. We experimentally demonstrated that the imaging contrast and uniformity were extraordinarily improved in the DFI mode. The intensity profiles in the visualization also numerically confirm the enhanced sharpness for a better imaging quality when applying DFI.

  8. High resolution radio-imager for biology and micro-dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aubineau-Laniece, I.; Charon, Y.; Laniece, P.; Mastrippolito, R.; Pinot, L.; Valentin, L.

    1999-01-01

    We have developed a self triggered intensified CCD (STIC) for real time high spatial resolution a and b imaging. This device is, in particular, of great interest for quantitative autoradiography of radiolabeled biochemical species with low level activity. (authors)

  9. Spectral phase shift and residual angular dispersion of an accousto-optic programme dispersive filter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boerzsoenyi, A.; Meroe, M.

    2010-01-01

    Complete text of publication follows. There is an increasing demand for active and precise dispersion control of ultrashort laser pulses. In chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser systems, the dispersion of the optical elements of the laser has to be compensated at least to the fourth order to obtain high temporal contrast compressed pulses. Nowadays the most convenient device for active and programmable control of spectral phase and amplitude of broadband laser pulses is the acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF), claimed to be able to adjust the spectral phase up to the fourth order. Although it has been widely used, surprisingly enough there has been only a single, low resolution measurement reported on the accuracy of the induced spectral phase shift of the device. In our paper we report on the first systematic experiment aiming at the precise characterization of an AOPDF device. In the experiment the spectral phase shift of the AOPDF device was measured by spectrally and spatially resolved interferometry, which is especially powerful tool to determine small dispersion values with high accuracy. Besides the spectral phase dispersion, we measured both the propagation direction angular dispersion (PDAD) and the phase front angular dispersion (PhFAD). Although the two quantities are equal for plane waves, there may be noticeable difference for Gaussian pulses. PDAD was determined simply by focusing the beam on the slit of an imaging spectrograph, while PhFAD was measured by the use of an inverted Mach-Zehnder interferometer and an imaging spectrograph. In the measurements, the spectral phase shift and both types of angular dispersion have been recorded upon the systematic change of all the accessible functions of the acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter. The measured values of group delay dispersion (GDD) and third order dispersion (TOD) have been found to agree with the preset values within the error of the measurement (1 fs 2 and 10 fs 3

  10. Classification of high resolution remote sensing image based on geo-ontology and conditional random fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Liang

    2013-10-01

    The availability of high spatial resolution remote sensing data provides new opportunities for urban land-cover classification. More geometric details can be observed in the high resolution remote sensing image, Also Ground objects in the high resolution remote sensing image have displayed rich texture, structure, shape and hierarchical semantic characters. More landscape elements are represented by a small group of pixels. Recently years, the an object-based remote sensing analysis methodology is widely accepted and applied in high resolution remote sensing image processing. The classification method based on Geo-ontology and conditional random fields is presented in this paper. The proposed method is made up of four blocks: (1) the hierarchical ground objects semantic framework is constructed based on geoontology; (2) segmentation by mean-shift algorithm, which image objects are generated. And the mean-shift method is to get boundary preserved and spectrally homogeneous over-segmentation regions ;(3) the relations between the hierarchical ground objects semantic and over-segmentation regions are defined based on conditional random fields framework ;(4) the hierarchical classification results are obtained based on geo-ontology and conditional random fields. Finally, high-resolution remote sensed image data -GeoEye, is used to testify the performance of the presented method. And the experimental results have shown the superiority of this method to the eCognition method both on the effectively and accuracy, which implies it is suitable for the classification of high resolution remote sensing image.

  11. Image Fusion-Based Land Cover Change Detection Using Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Satellite Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Biao Wang

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Change detection is usually treated as a problem of explicitly detecting land cover transitions in satellite images obtained at different times, and helps with emergency response and government management. This study presents an unsupervised change detection method based on the image fusion of multi-temporal images. The main objective of this study is to improve the accuracy of unsupervised change detection from high-resolution multi-temporal images. Our method effectively reduces change detection errors, since spatial displacement and spectral differences between multi-temporal images are evaluated. To this end, a total of four cross-fused images are generated with multi-temporal images, and the iteratively reweighted multivariate alteration detection (IR-MAD method—a measure for the spectral distortion of change information—is applied to the fused images. In this experiment, the land cover change maps were extracted using multi-temporal IKONOS-2, WorldView-3, and GF-1 satellite images. The effectiveness of the proposed method compared with other unsupervised change detection methods is demonstrated through experimentation. The proposed method achieved an overall accuracy of 80.51% and 97.87% for cases 1 and 2, respectively. Moreover, the proposed method performed better when differentiating the water area from the vegetation area compared to the existing change detection methods. Although the water area beneath moderate and sparse vegetation canopy was captured, vegetation cover and paved regions of the water body were the main sources of omission error, and commission errors occurred primarily in pixels of mixed land use and along the water body edge. Nevertheless, the proposed method, in conjunction with high-resolution satellite imagery, offers a robust and flexible approach to land cover change mapping that requires no ancillary data for rapid implementation.

  12. Rearranging the lenslet array of the compact passive interference imaging system with high resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Gang; Wen, Desheng; Song, Zongxi

    2017-10-01

    With the development of aeronautics and astronautics, higher resolution requirement of the telescope was necessary. However, the increase in resolution of conventional telescope required larger apertures, whose size, weight and power consumption could be prohibitively expensive. This limited the further development of the telescope. This paper introduced a new imaging technology using interference—Compact Passive Interference Imaging Technology with High Resolution, and proposed a rearranging method for the arrangement of the lenslet array to obtain continuously object spatial frequency.

  13. Radiopacity of restorative composites by conventional radiography and digital images with different resolutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dantas, Raquel Venancio; Samento, Hugo Ramalho [Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas (Brazil); Duarte, Rosangela Marques; Raso, Sonia Saeger Meireles Monte; De Andrade Ana Karina Maciel; Anjos-Pontual Maria Luiza Dos [Dept. of Operative Dentistry, Federal University of Paraiba, Pelotas (Brazil)

    2013-09-15

    This study was performed to evaluate and compare the radiopacity of dentin, enamel, and 8 restorative composites on conventional radiograph and digital images with different resolutions. Specimens were fabricated from 8 materials and human molars were longitudinally sectioned 1.0 mm thick to include both enamel and dentin. The specimens and tooth sections were imaged by conventional radiograph using 4 sized intraoral film and digital images were taken in high speed and high resolution modes using a phosphor storage plate. Densitometric evaluation of the enamel, dentin, restorative materials, a lead sheet, and an aluminum step wedge was performed on the radiographic images. For the evaluation, the Al equivalent (mm) for each material was calculated. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (p<0.05), considering the material factor and then the radiographic method factor, individually. The high speed mode allowed the highest radiopacity, while the high resolution mode generated the lowest values. Furthermore, the high resolution mode was the most efficient method for radiographic differentiation between restorative composites and dentin. The conventional radiograph was the most effective in enabling differentiation between enamel and composites. The high speed mode was the least effective in enabling radiographic differentiation between the dental tissues and restorative composites. The high speed mode of digital imaging was not effective for differentiation between enamel and composites. This made it less effective than the high resolution mode and conventional radiographs. All of the composites evaluated showed radiopacity values that fit the ISO 4049 recommendations.

  14. Visible-to-visible four-photon ultrahigh resolution microscopic imaging with 730-nm diode laser excited nanocrystals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Baoju; Zhan, Qiuqiang; Zhao, Yuxiang; Wu, Ruitao; Liu, Jing; He, Sailing

    2016-01-25

    Further development of multiphoton microscopic imaging is confronted with a number of limitations, including high-cost, high complexity and relatively low spatial resolution due to the long excitation wavelength. To overcome these problems, for the first time, we propose visible-to-visible four-photon ultrahigh resolution microscopic imaging by using a common cost-effective 730-nm laser diode to excite the prepared Nd(3+)-sensitized upconversion nanoparticles (Nd(3+)-UCNPs). An ordinary multiphoton scanning microscope system was built using a visible CW diode laser and the lateral imaging resolution as high as 161-nm was achieved via the four-photon upconversion process. The demonstrated large saturation excitation power for Nd(3+)-UCNPs would be more practical and facilitate the four-photon imaging in the application. A sample with fine structure was imaged to demonstrate the advantages of visible-to-visible four-photon ultrahigh resolution microscopic imaging with 730-nm diode laser excited nanocrystals. Combining the uniqueness of UCNPs, the proposed visible-to-visible four-photon imaging would be highly promising and attractive in the field of multiphoton imaging.

  15. Earth elevation map production and high resolution sensing camera imaging analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiubin; Jin, Guang; Jiang, Li; Dai, Lu; Xu, Kai

    2010-11-01

    The Earth's digital elevation which impacts space camera imaging has prepared and imaging has analysed. Based on matching error that TDI CCD integral series request of the speed of image motion, statistical experimental methods-Monte Carlo method is used to calculate the distribution histogram of Earth's elevation in image motion compensated model which includes satellite attitude changes, orbital angular rate changes, latitude, longitude and the orbital inclination changes. And then, elevation information of the earth's surface from SRTM is read. Earth elevation map which produced for aerospace electronic cameras is compressed and spliced. It can get elevation data from flash according to the shooting point of latitude and longitude. If elevation data between two data, the ways of searching data uses linear interpolation. Linear interpolation can better meet the rugged mountains and hills changing requests. At last, the deviant framework and camera controller are used to test the character of deviant angle errors, TDI CCD camera simulation system with the material point corresponding to imaging point model is used to analyze the imaging's MTF and mutual correlation similarity measure, simulation system use adding cumulation which TDI CCD imaging exceeded the corresponding pixel horizontal and vertical offset to simulate camera imaging when stability of satellite attitude changes. This process is practicality. It can effectively control the camera memory space, and meet a very good precision TDI CCD camera in the request matches the speed of image motion and imaging.

  16. Towards an automatic tool for resolution evaluation of mammographic images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Oliveira, J. E. E. [FUMEC, Av. Alfonso Pena 3880, CEP 30130-009 Belo Horizonte - MG (Brazil); Nogueira, M. S., E-mail: juliae@fumec.br [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear / CNEN, Pte. Antonio Carlos 6627, 31270-901, Belo Horizonte - MG (Brazil)

    2014-08-15

    Quality of Mammographies from the Public and Private Services of the State. With an essentially educational character, an evaluation of the image quality is monthly held from a breast phantom in each mammographic equipment. In face of this, this work proposes to develop a protocol for automatic evaluation of image quality of mammograms so that the radiological protection and image quality requirements are met in the early detection of breast cancer. Specifically, image resolution will be addressed and evaluated, as a part of the program of image quality evaluation. Results show that for the fourth resolution and using 28 phantom images with the ground truth settled, the computer analysis of the resolution is promising and may be used as a tool for the assessment of the image quality. (Author)

  17. Towards an automatic tool for resolution evaluation of mammographic images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Oliveira, J. E. E.; Nogueira, M. S.

    2014-08-01

    Quality of Mammographies from the Public and Private Services of the State. With an essentially educational character, an evaluation of the image quality is monthly held from a breast phantom in each mammographic equipment. In face of this, this work proposes to develop a protocol for automatic evaluation of image quality of mammograms so that the radiological protection and image quality requirements are met in the early detection of breast cancer. Specifically, image resolution will be addressed and evaluated, as a part of the program of image quality evaluation. Results show that for the fourth resolution and using 28 phantom images with the ground truth settled, the computer analysis of the resolution is promising and may be used as a tool for the assessment of the image quality. (Author)

  18. Image-based Modeling of PSF Deformation with Application to Limited Angle PET Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matej, Samuel; Li, Yusheng; Panetta, Joseph; Karp, Joel S.; Surti, Suleman

    2016-01-01

    The point-spread-functions (PSFs) of reconstructed images can be deformed due to detector effects such as resolution blurring and parallax error, data acquisition geometry such as insufficient sampling or limited angular coverage in dual-panel PET systems, or reconstruction imperfections/simplifications. PSF deformation decreases quantitative accuracy and its spatial variation lowers consistency of lesion uptake measurement across the imaging field-of-view (FOV). This can be a significant problem with dual panel PET systems even when using TOF data and image reconstruction models of the detector and data acquisition process. To correct for the spatially variant reconstructed PSF distortions we propose to use an image-based resolution model (IRM) that includes such image PSF deformation effects. Originally the IRM was mostly used for approximating data resolution effects of standard PET systems with full angular coverage in a computationally efficient way, but recently it was also used to mitigate effects of simplified geometric projectors. Our work goes beyond this by including into the IRM reconstruction imperfections caused by combination of the limited angle, parallax errors, and any other (residual) deformation effects and testing it for challenging dual panel data with strongly asymmetric and variable PSF deformations. We applied and tested these concepts using simulated data based on our design for a dedicated breast imaging geometry (B-PET) consisting of dual-panel, time-of-flight (TOF) detectors. We compared two image-based resolution models; i) a simple spatially invariant approximation to PSF deformation, which captures only the general PSF shape through an elongated 3D Gaussian function, and ii) a spatially variant model using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to more accurately capture the asymmetric PSF shape in images reconstructed from data acquired with the B-PET scanner geometry. Results demonstrate that while both IRMs decrease the overall uptake

  19. Influence of seismic diffraction for high-resolution imaging: applications in offshore Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bashir, Yasir; Ghosh, Deva Prasad; Sum, Chow Weng

    2018-04-01

    Small-scale geological discontinuities are not easy to detect and image in seismic data, as these features represent themselves as diffracted rather than reflected waves. However, the combined reflected and diffracted image contains full wave information and is of great value to an interpreter, for instance enabling the identification of faults, fractures, and surfaces in built-up carbonate. Although diffraction imaging has a resolution below the typical seismic wavelength, if the wavelength is much smaller than the width of the discontinuity then interference effects can be ignored, as they would not play a role in generating the seismic diffractions. In this paper, by means of synthetic examples and real data, the potential of diffraction separation for high-resolution seismic imaging is revealed and choosing the best method for preserving diffraction are discussed. We illustrate the accuracy of separating diffractions using the plane-wave destruction (PWD) and dip frequency filtering (DFF) techniques on data from the Sarawak Basin, a carbonate field. PWD is able to preserve the diffraction more intelligently than DFF, which is proven in the results by the model and real data. The final results illustrate the effectiveness of diffraction separation and possible imaging for high-resolution seismic data of small but significant geological features.

  20. Professional AngularJS

    CERN Document Server

    Karpov, Valeri

    2015-01-01

    A comprehensive guide to AngularJS, Google's open-source client-side framework for app development. Most of the existing guides to AngularJS struggle to provide simple and understandable explanations for more advanced concepts. As a result, some developers who understand all the basic concepts of AngularJS struggle when it comes to building more complex real-world applications. Professional AngularJS provides a thorough understanding of AngularJS, covering everything from basic concepts, such as directives and data binding, to more advanced concepts like transclusion, build systems, and auto

  1. Evaluation of PET Imaging Resolution Using 350 mu{m} Pixelated CZT as a VP-PET Insert Detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Yongzhi; Chen, Ximeng; Li, Chongzheng; Wu, Heyu; Komarov, Sergey; Guo, Qingzhen; Krawczynski, Henric; Meng, Ling-Jian; Tai, Yuan-Chuan

    2014-02-01

    A cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) detector with 350 μm pitch pixels was studied in high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET) imaging applications. The PET imaging system was based on coincidence detection between a CZT detector and a lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO)-based Inveon PET detector in virtual-pinhole PET geometry. The LSO detector is a 20 ×20 array, with 1.6 mm pitches, and 10 mm thickness. The CZT detector uses ac 20 ×20 ×5 mm substrate, with 350 μm pitch pixelated anodes and a coplanar cathode. A NEMA NU4 Na-22 point source of 250 μm in diameter was imaged by this system. Experiments show that the image resolution of single-pixel photopeak events was 590 μm FWHM while the image resolution of double-pixel photopeak events was 640 μm FWHM. The inclusion of double-pixel full-energy events increased the sensitivity of the imaging system. To validate the imaging experiment, we conducted a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation for the same PET system in Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography. We defined LSO detectors as a scanner ring and 350 μm pixelated CZT detectors as an insert ring. GATE simulated coincidence data were sorted into an insert-scanner sinogram and reconstructed. The image resolution of MC-simulated data (which did not factor in positron range and acolinearity effect) was 460 μm at FWHM for single-pixel events. The image resolutions of experimental data, MC simulated data, and theoretical calculation are all close to 500 μm FWHM when the proposed 350 μm pixelated CZT detector is used as a PET insert. The interpolation algorithm for the charge sharing events was also investigated. The PET image that was reconstructed using the interpolation algorithm shows improved image resolution compared with the image resolution without interpolation algorithm.

  2. High-resolution 3D-GRE imaging of the abdomen using controlled aliasing acceleration technique - a feasibility study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    AlObaidy, Mamdoh; Ramalho, Miguel; Busireddy, Kiran K.R.; Liu, Baodong; Burke, Lauren M.; Altun, Ersan; Semelka, Richard C. [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Radiology, Chapel Hill, NC (United States); Dale, Brian M. [Siemens Medical Solutions, MR Research and Development, Morrisville, NC (United States)

    2015-12-15

    To assess the feasibility of high-resolution 3D-gradient-recalled echo (GRE) fat-suppressed T1-weighted images using controlled aliasing acceleration technique (CAIPIRINHA-VIBE), and compare image quality and lesion detection to standard-resolution 3D-GRE images using conventional acceleration technique (GRAPPA-VIBE). Eighty-four patients (41 males, 43 females; age range: 14-90 years, 58.8 ± 15.6 years) underwent abdominal MRI at 1.5 T with CAIPIRINHA-VIBE [spatial resolution, 0.76 ± 0.04 mm] and GRAPPA-VIBE [spatial resolution, 1.17 ± 0.14 mm]. Two readers independently reviewed image quality, presence of artefacts, lesion conspicuity, and lesion detection. Kappa statistic was used to assess interobserver agreement. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for image qualitative pairwise comparisons. Logistic regression with post-hoc testing was used to evaluate statistical significance of lesions evaluation. Interobserver agreement ranged between 0.45-0.93. Pre-contrast CAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed significantly (p < 0.001) sharper images and lesion conspicuity with decreased residual aliasing, but more noise enhancement and inferior image quality. Post-contrast CAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed significantly (p < 0.001) sharper images and higher lesion conspicuity, with less respiratory motion and residual aliasing artefacts. Inferior fat-suppression was noticeable on CAIPIRINHA-VIBE sequences (p < 0.001). High in-plane resolution abdominal 3D-GRE fat-suppressed T1-weighted imaging using controlled-aliasing acceleration technique is feasible and yields sharper images compared to standard-resolution images using standard acceleration, with higher post-contrast image quality and trend for improved hepatic lesions detection. (orig.)

  3. High-resolution 3D-GRE imaging of the abdomen using controlled aliasing acceleration technique - a feasibility study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    AlObaidy, Mamdoh; Ramalho, Miguel; Busireddy, Kiran K.R.; Liu, Baodong; Burke, Lauren M.; Altun, Ersan; Semelka, Richard C.; Dale, Brian M.

    2015-01-01

    To assess the feasibility of high-resolution 3D-gradient-recalled echo (GRE) fat-suppressed T1-weighted images using controlled aliasing acceleration technique (CAIPIRINHA-VIBE), and compare image quality and lesion detection to standard-resolution 3D-GRE images using conventional acceleration technique (GRAPPA-VIBE). Eighty-four patients (41 males, 43 females; age range: 14-90 years, 58.8 ± 15.6 years) underwent abdominal MRI at 1.5 T with CAIPIRINHA-VIBE [spatial resolution, 0.76 ± 0.04 mm] and GRAPPA-VIBE [spatial resolution, 1.17 ± 0.14 mm]. Two readers independently reviewed image quality, presence of artefacts, lesion conspicuity, and lesion detection. Kappa statistic was used to assess interobserver agreement. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for image qualitative pairwise comparisons. Logistic regression with post-hoc testing was used to evaluate statistical significance of lesions evaluation. Interobserver agreement ranged between 0.45-0.93. Pre-contrast CAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed significantly (p < 0.001) sharper images and lesion conspicuity with decreased residual aliasing, but more noise enhancement and inferior image quality. Post-contrast CAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed significantly (p < 0.001) sharper images and higher lesion conspicuity, with less respiratory motion and residual aliasing artefacts. Inferior fat-suppression was noticeable on CAIPIRINHA-VIBE sequences (p < 0.001). High in-plane resolution abdominal 3D-GRE fat-suppressed T1-weighted imaging using controlled-aliasing acceleration technique is feasible and yields sharper images compared to standard-resolution images using standard acceleration, with higher post-contrast image quality and trend for improved hepatic lesions detection. (orig.)

  4. Tablet disintegration studied by high-resolution real-time magnetic resonance imaging.

    OpenAIRE

    Quodbach, J.; Moussavi, A.; Tammer, R.; Frahm, J.; Kleinebudde, P.

    2014-01-01

    The present work employs recent advances in high-resolution real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the disintegration process of tablets containing disintegrants. A temporal resolution of 75 ms and a spatial resolution of 80 x 80 m with a section thickness of only 600 m were achieved. The histograms of MRI videos were quantitatively analyzed with MATLAB. The mechanisms of action of six commercially available disintegrants, the influence of relative tablet density, and the i...

  5. The role of symmetry in the theory of inelastic high-energy electron scattering and its application to atomic-resolution core-loss imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwyer, C

    2015-04-01

    The inelastic scattering of a high-energy electron in a solid constitutes a bipartite quantum system with an intrinsically large number of excitations, posing a considerable challenge for theorists. It is demonstrated how and why the utilization of symmetries, or approximate symmetries, can lead to significant improvements in both the description of the scattering physics and the efficiency of numerical computations. These ideas are explored thoroughly for the case of core-loss excitations, where it is shown that the coupled angular momentum basis leads to dramatic improvements over the bases employed in previous work. The resulting gains in efficiency are demonstrated explicitly for K-, L- and M-shell excitations, including such excitations in the context of atomic-resolution imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope. The utilization of other symmetries is also discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Ultra-High-Resolution Computed Tomography of the Lung: Image Quality of a Prototype Scanner

    OpenAIRE

    Kakinuma, Ryutaro; Moriyama, Noriyuki; Muramatsu, Yukio; Gomi, Shiho; Suzuki, Masahiro; Nagasawa, Hirobumi; Kusumoto, Masahiko; Aso, Tomohiko; Muramatsu, Yoshihisa; Tsuchida, Takaaki; Tsuta, Koji; Maeshima, Akiko Miyagi; Tochigi, Naobumi; Watanabe, Shun-ichi; Sugihara, Naoki

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The image noise and image quality of a prototype ultra-high-resolution computed tomography (U-HRCT) scanner was evaluated and compared with those of conventional high-resolution CT (C-HRCT) scanners. Materials and Methods: This study was approved by the institutional review board. A U-HRCT scanner prototype with 0.25 mm × 4 rows and operating at 120 mAs was used. The C-HRCT images were obtained using a 0.5 mm × 16 or 0.5 mm × 64 detector-row CT scanner operating at 150 mAs. Images fr...

  7. Does image quality matter? Impact of resolution and noise on mammographic task performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saunders, Robert S. Jr.; Baker, Jay A.; Delong, David M.; Johnson, Jeff P.; Samei, Ehsan

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different resolution and noise levels on task performance in digital mammography. This study created an image set with images at three different resolution levels, corresponding to three digital display devices, and three different noise levels, with noise magnitudes similar to full clinical dose, half clinical dose, and quarter clinical dose. The images were read by five experienced breast imaging radiologists. The data were then analyzed to compute two accuracy statistics (overall classification accuracy and lesion detection accuracy) and performance at four diagnostic tasks (detection of microcalcifications, benign masses, malignant masses, and discrimination of benign and malignant masses). Human observer results showed decreasing display resolution had little effect on overall classification accuracy and individual diagnostic task performance, but increasing noise caused overall classification accuracy to decrease by a statistically significant 21% as the breast dose went to one quarter of its normal clinical value. The noise effects were most prominent for the tasks of microcalcification detection and mass discrimination. When the noise changed from full clinical dose to quarter clinical dose, the microcalcification detection performance fell from 89% to 67% and the mass discrimination performance decreased from 93% to 79%, while malignant mass detection performance remained relatively constant with values of 88% and 84%, respectively. As a secondary aim, the image set was also analyzed by two observer models to examine whether their performance was similar to humans. Observer models differed from human observers and each other in their sensitivity to resolution degradation and noise. The primary conclusions of this study suggest that quantum noise appears to be the dominant image quality factor in digital mammography, affecting radiologist performance much more profoundly than display resolution

  8. High resolution monochromatic X-ray imaging system based on spherically bent crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aglitskiy, Y.; Lehecka, T.; Obenschain, S.; Bodner, S.; Pawley, C.; Gerber, K.; Sethian, J.; Brown, C.M.; Seely, J.; Feldman, U.; Holland, G.

    1997-01-01

    We have developed a new X-ray imaging system based on spherically curved crystals. It is designed and used for diagnostics of targets ablatively accelerated by the Nike KrF laser [1,2]. The imaging system is used for plasma diagnostics of the main target and for characterization of potential backlighters. A spherically curved quartz crystal (2d=6.687 Angstrom, R=200mm) is used to produce monochromatic backlit images with the He-like Si resonance line (1865 eV) as the source of radiation. The spatial resolution of the X-ray optical system is 3 endash 4 μm. Time resolved backlit monochromatic images of CH planar targets driven by the Nike facility have been obtained with 6 endash 7 μm spatial resolution. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

  9. Wide-field Spatio-Spectral Interferometry: Bringing High Resolution to the Far- Infrared

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leisawitx, David

    Wide-field spatio-spectral interferometry combines spatial and spectral interferometric data to provide integral field spectroscopic information over a wide field of view. This technology breaks through a mission cost barrier that stands in the way of resolving spatially and measuring spectroscopically at far-infrared wavelengths objects that will lead to a deep understanding of planetary system and galaxy formation processes. A space-based far-IR interferometer will combine Spitzer s superb sensitivity with a two order of magnitude gain in angular resolution, and with spectral resolution in the thousands. With the possible exception of detector technology, which is advancing with support from other research programs, the greatest challenge for far-IR interferometry is to demonstrate that the interferometer will actually produce the images and spectra needed to satisfy mission science requirements. With past APRA support, our team has already developed the highly specialized hardware testbed, image projector, computational model, and image construction software required for the proposed effort, and we have access to an ideal test facility.

  10. Characterization and Applications of a CdZnTe-Based Gamma-Ray Imager

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galloway, Michelle Lee

    Detection of electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma rays provides a means to discover the presence of nuclear sources and the occurrence of highly-energetic events that occur in our terrestrial and astrophysical environment. The highly penetrative nature of gamma rays allows for probing into objects and regions that are obscured at other wavelengths. The detection and imaging of gamma rays relies upon an understanding of the ways in which these high-energy photons interact with matter. The applications of gamma-ray detection and imaging are numerous. Astrophysical observation of gamma rays expands our understanding of the Universe in which we live. Terrestrial detection and imaging of gamma rays enable environmental monitoring of radioactivity. This allows for identification and localization of nuclear materials to prevent illicit trafficking and to ultimately protect against harmful acts. This dissertation focusses on the development and characterization of a gamma-ray detection and imaging instrument and explores its capabilities for the aforementioned applications. The High Efficiency Multimode Imager, HEMI, is a prototype instrument that is based on Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) semiconductor detectors. The detectors are arranged in a two-planar configuration to allow for both Compton and coded-aperture imaging. HEMI was initially developed as a prototype instrument to demonstrate its capabilities for nuclear threat detection, spectroscopy, and imaging. The 96-detector instrument was developed and fully characterized within the laboratory environment, yielding a system energy resolution of 2.4% FWHM at 662 keV, an angular resolution of 9.5 deg. FWHM at 662 keV in Compton mode, and a 10.6 deg. angular resolution in coded aperture mode. After event cuts, the effective area for Compton imaging of the 662 keV photopeak is 0.1 cm 22. Imaging of point sources in both Compton and coded aperture modes have been demonstrated. The minimum detectable activity of

  11. Single image super-resolution based on approximated Heaviside functions and iterative refinement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xin-Yu; Huang, Ting-Zhu; Deng, Liang-Jian

    2018-01-01

    One method of solving the single-image super-resolution problem is to use Heaviside functions. This has been done previously by making a binary classification of image components as “smooth” and “non-smooth”, describing these with approximated Heaviside functions (AHFs), and iteration including l1 regularization. We now introduce a new method in which the binary classification of image components is extended to different degrees of smoothness and non-smoothness, these components being represented by various classes of AHFs. Taking into account the sparsity of the non-smooth components, their coefficients are l1 regularized. In addition, to pick up more image details, the new method uses an iterative refinement for the residuals between the original low-resolution input and the downsampled resulting image. Experimental results showed that the new method is superior to the original AHF method and to four other published methods. PMID:29329298

  12. Extra-light gamma-ray imager for safeguards and homeland security

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ivanov, Oleg P.; Semin, Ilya A.; Potapov, Victor N.; Stepanov, Vyacheslav E. [National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, 123182, (Russian Federation)

    2015-07-01

    Gamma-ray imaging is the most important way to identify unknown gamma-ray emitting objects in decommissioning, security, overcoming accidents. Over the past two decades a system for producing of gamma images in these conditions became more or less portable devices. But in recent years these systems have become the hand-held devices. This is very important, especially in emergency situations, and measurements for safety reasons. We describe the first integrated hand-held instrument for emergency and security applications. The device is based on the coded aperture image formation, position sensitive gamma-ray (X-ray) detector Medipix2 (detectors produces by X-ray Imaging Europe) and tablet computer. The development was aimed at creating a very low weight system with high angular resolution. We present some sample gamma-ray images by camera. Main estimated parameters of the system are the following. The field of view video channel ∼ 490 deg. The field of view gamma channel ∼ 300 deg. The sensitivity of the system with a hexagonal mask for the source of Cs-137 (Eg = 662 keV), is in units of dose D ∼ 100 mR. This option is less then order of magnitude worse than for the heavy, non-hand-held systems (e.g., gamma-camera Cartogam, by Canberra.) The angular resolution of the gamma channel for the sources of Cs-137 (Eg = 662 keV) is about 1.20 deg. (authors)

  13. Efficient fully 3D list-mode TOF PET image reconstruction using a factorized system matrix with an image domain resolution model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Jian; Qi, Jinyi

    2014-01-01

    A factorized system matrix utilizing an image domain resolution model is attractive in fully 3D time-of-flight PET image reconstruction using list-mode data. In this paper, we study a factored model based on sparse matrix factorization that is comprised primarily of a simplified geometrical projection matrix and an image blurring matrix. Beside the commonly-used Siddon’s ray-tracer, we propose another more simplified geometrical projector based on the Bresenham’s ray-tracer which further reduces the computational cost. We discuss in general how to obtain an image blurring matrix associated with a geometrical projector, and provide theoretical analysis that can be used to inspect the efficiency in model factorization. In simulation studies, we investigate the performance of the proposed sparse factorization model in terms of spatial resolution, noise properties and computational cost. The quantitative results reveal that the factorization model can be as efficient as a non-factored model, while its computational cost can be much lower. In addition we conduct Monte Carlo simulations to identify the conditions under which the image resolution model can become more efficient in terms of image contrast recovery. We verify our observations using the provided theoretical analysis. The result offers a general guide to achieve the optimal reconstruction performance based on a sparse factorization model with an image domain resolution model. (paper)

  14. The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager Small Explorer Concept Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christe, Steven; Shih, Albert Y.; Dennis, Brian R.; Glesener, Lindsay; Krucker, Sam; Saint-Hilaire, Pascal; Gubarev, Mikhail; Ramsey, Brian

    2016-05-01

    We present the FOXSI (Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager) small explorer (SMEX) concept, a mission dedicated to studying particle acceleration and energy release on the Sun. FOXSI is designed as a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft in low-Earth orbit making use of state-of-the-art grazing incidence focusing optics combined withpixelated solid-state detectors, allowing for direct imaging of solar X-rays. The current design being studied features multiple telescopes with a 14 meter focal length enabled by a deployable boom.FOXSI will observe the Sun in the 3-100 keV energy range. The FOXSI imaging concept has already been tested on two sounding rocket flights, in 2012 and 2014 and on the HEROES balloon payload flight in 2013. FOXSI will image the Sun with an angular resolution of 5'', a spectral resolution of 0.5 keV, and sub-second temporal resolution. FOXSI is a direct imaging spectrometer with high dynamic range and sensitivity and will provide a brand-new perspective on energy release on the Sun. We describe the mission and its science objectives.

  15. Information Extraction of High Resolution Remote Sensing Images Based on the Calculation of Optimal Segmentation Parameters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Hongchun; Cai, Lijie; Liu, Haiying; Huang, Wei

    2016-01-01

    Multi-scale image segmentation and the selection of optimal segmentation parameters are the key processes in the object-oriented information extraction of high-resolution remote sensing images. The accuracy of remote sensing special subject information depends on this extraction. On the basis of WorldView-2 high-resolution data, the optimal segmentation parameters methodof object-oriented image segmentation and high-resolution image information extraction, the following processes were conducted in this study. Firstly, the best combination of the bands and weights was determined for the information extraction of high-resolution remote sensing image. An improved weighted mean-variance method was proposed andused to calculatethe optimal segmentation scale. Thereafter, the best shape factor parameter and compact factor parameters were computed with the use of the control variables and the combination of the heterogeneity and homogeneity indexes. Different types of image segmentation parameters were obtained according to the surface features. The high-resolution remote sensing images were multi-scale segmented with the optimal segmentation parameters. Ahierarchical network structure was established by setting the information extraction rules to achieve object-oriented information extraction. This study presents an effective and practical method that can explain expert input judgment by reproducible quantitative measurements. Furthermore the results of this procedure may be incorporated into a classification scheme. PMID:27362762

  16. Structure Identification in High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopic Images

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestergaard, Jacob Schack; Kling, Jens; Dahl, Anders Bjorholm

    2014-01-01

    A connection between microscopic structure and macroscopic properties is expected for almost all material systems. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy is a technique offering insight into the atomic structure, but the analysis of large image series can be time consuming. The present ...

  17. Probing the Spatial Distribution of the Interstellar Dust Medium by High Angular Resolution X-ray Halos of Point Sources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Jingen

    X-rays are absorbed and scattered by dust grains when they travel through the interstellar medium. The scattering within small angles results in an X-ray ``halo''. The halo properties are significantly affected by the energy of radiation, the optical depth of the scattering, the grain size distributions and compositions, and the spatial distribution of dust along the line of sight (LOS). Therefore analyzing the X-ray halo properties is an important tool to study the size distribution and spatial distribution of interstellar grains, which plays a central role in the astrophysical study of the interstellar medium, such as the thermodynamics and chemistry of the gas and the dynamics of star formation. With excellent angular resolution, good energy resolution and broad energy band, the Chandra ACIS is so far the best instrument for studying the X-ray halos. But the direct images of bright sources obtained with ACIS usually suffer from severe pileup which prevents us from obtaining the halos in small angles. We first improve the method proposed by Yao et al to resolve the X-ray dust scattering halos of point sources from the zeroth order data in CC-mode or the first order data in TE mode with Chandra HETG/ACIS. Using this method we re-analyze the Cygnus X-1 data observed with Chandra. Then we studied the X-ray dust scattering halos around 17 bright X-ray point sources using Chandra data. All sources were observed with the HETG/ACIS in CC-mode or TE-mode. Using the interstellar grain models of WD01 model and MRN model to fit the halo profiles, we get the hydrogen column densities and the spatial distributions of the scattering dust grains along the line of sights (LOS) to these sources. We find there is a good linear correlation not only between the scattering hydrogen column density from WD01 model and the one from MRN model, but also between N_{H} derived from spectral fits and the one derived from the grain models WD01 and MRN (except for GX 301-2 and Vela X-1): N

  18. Noise propagation in resolution modeled PET imaging and its impact on detectability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rahmim, Arman; Tang, Jing

    2013-01-01

    Positron emission tomography imaging is affected by a number of resolution degrading phenomena, including positron range, photon non-collinearity and inter-crystal blurring. An approach to this issue is to model some or all of these effects within the image reconstruction task, referred to as resolution modeling (RM). This approach is commonly observed to yield images of higher resolution and subsequently contrast, and can be thought of as improving the modulation transfer function. Nonetheless, RM can substantially alter the noise distribution. In this work, we utilize noise propagation models in order to accurately characterize the noise texture of reconstructed images in the presence of RM. Furthermore we consider the task of lesion or defect detection, which is highly determined by the noise distribution as quantified using the noise power spectrum. Ultimately, we use this framework to demonstrate why conventional trade-off analyses (e.g. contrast versus noise, using simplistic noise metrics) do not provide a complete picture of the impact of RM and that improved performance of RM according to such analyses does not necessarily translate to the superiority of RM in detection task performance. (paper)

  19. A resolution-enhancing image reconstruction method for few-view differential phase-contrast tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Huifeng; Anastasio, Mark A.

    2017-03-01

    It is well-known that properly designed image reconstruction methods can facilitate reductions in imaging doses and data-acquisition times in tomographic imaging. The ability to do so is particularly important for emerging modalities such as differential X-ray phase-contrast tomography (D-XPCT), which are currently limited by these factors. An important application of D-XPCT is high-resolution imaging of biomedical samples. However, reconstructing high-resolution images from few-view tomographic measurements remains a challenging task. In this work, a two-step sub-space reconstruction strategy is proposed and investigated for use in few-view D-XPCT image reconstruction. It is demonstrated that the resulting iterative algorithm can mitigate the high-frequency information loss caused by data incompleteness and produce images that have better preserved high spatial frequency content than those produced by use of a conventional penalized least squares (PLS) estimator.

  20. MSCT versus CBCT: evaluation of high-resolution acquisition modes for dento-maxillary and skull-base imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dillenseger, Jean-Philippe; Goetz, Christian [Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Imagerie Preclinique-UF6237, Pole d' imagerie, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Icube, equipe MMB, CNRS, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Federation de Medecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Faculte de Medecine, Strasbourg (France); Matern, Jean-Francois [Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Imagerie Preclinique-UF6237, Pole d' imagerie, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Federation de Medecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Faculte de Medecine, Strasbourg (France); Gros, Catherine-Isabelle; Bornert, Fabien [Universite de Strasbourg, Federation de Medecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Faculte de Medecine, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Faculte de Chirurgie Dentaire, Strasbourg (France); Le Minor, Jean-Marie [Universite de Strasbourg, Icube, equipe MMB, CNRS, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Federation de Medecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Faculte de Medecine, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Institut d' Anatomie Normale, Strasbourg (France); Constantinesco, Andre [Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Imagerie Preclinique-UF6237, Pole d' imagerie, Strasbourg (France); Choquet, Philippe [Hopitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Imagerie Preclinique-UF6237, Pole d' imagerie, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Icube, equipe MMB, CNRS, Strasbourg (France); Universite de Strasbourg, Federation de Medecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Faculte de Medecine, Strasbourg (France); Hopital de Hautepierre, Imagerie Preclinique, Biophysique et Medecine Nucleaire, Strasbourg Cedex (France)

    2014-09-24

    Our aim was to conduct a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of high-resolution skull-bone imaging for dentistry and otolaryngology using different architectures of recent X-ray computed tomography systems. Three multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) systems and one Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) system were used in this study. All apparatuses were tested with installed acquisition modes and proprietary reconstruction software enabling high-resolution bone imaging. Quantitative analyses were performed with small fields of view with the preclinical vmCT phantom, which permits to measure spatial resolution, geometrical accuracy, linearity and homogeneity. Ten operators performed visual qualitative analyses on the vmCT phantom images, and on dry human skull images. Quantitative analysis showed no significant differences between protocols in terms of linearity and geometric accuracy. All MSCT systems present a better homogeneity than the CBCT. Both quantitative and visual analyses demonstrate that CBCT acquisitions are not better than the collimated helical MSCT mode. Our results demonstrate that current high-resolution MSCT protocols could exceed the performance of a previous generation CBCT system for spatial resolution and image homogeneity. (orig.)

  1. MSCT versus CBCT: evaluation of high-resolution acquisition modes for dento-maxillary and skull-base imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dillenseger, Jean-Philippe; Goetz, Christian; Matern, Jean-Francois; Gros, Catherine-Isabelle; Bornert, Fabien; Le Minor, Jean-Marie; Constantinesco, Andre; Choquet, Philippe

    2015-01-01

    Our aim was to conduct a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of high-resolution skull-bone imaging for dentistry and otolaryngology using different architectures of recent X-ray computed tomography systems. Three multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) systems and one Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) system were used in this study. All apparatuses were tested with installed acquisition modes and proprietary reconstruction software enabling high-resolution bone imaging. Quantitative analyses were performed with small fields of view with the preclinical vmCT phantom, which permits to measure spatial resolution, geometrical accuracy, linearity and homogeneity. Ten operators performed visual qualitative analyses on the vmCT phantom images, and on dry human skull images. Quantitative analysis showed no significant differences between protocols in terms of linearity and geometric accuracy. All MSCT systems present a better homogeneity than the CBCT. Both quantitative and visual analyses demonstrate that CBCT acquisitions are not better than the collimated helical MSCT mode. Our results demonstrate that current high-resolution MSCT protocols could exceed the performance of a previous generation CBCT system for spatial resolution and image homogeneity. (orig.)

  2. Algorithm-enabled partial-angular-scan configurations for dual-energy CT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Buxin; Zhang, Zheng; Xia, Dan; Sidky, Emil Y; Pan, Xiaochuan

    2018-05-01

    We seek to investigate an optimization-based one-step method for image reconstruction that explicitly compensates for nonlinear spectral response (i.e., the beam-hardening effect) in dual-energy CT, to investigate the feasibility of the one-step method for enabling two dual-energy partial-angular-scan configurations, referred to as the short- and half-scan configurations, on standard CT scanners without involving additional hardware, and to investigate the potential of the short- and half-scan configurations in reducing imaging dose and scan time in a single-kVp-switch full-scan configuration in which two full rotations are made for collection of dual-energy data. We use the one-step method to reconstruct images directly from dual-energy data through solving a nonconvex optimization program that specifies the images to be reconstructed in dual-energy CT. Dual-energy full-scan data are generated from numerical phantoms and collected from physical phantoms with the standard single-kVp-switch full-scan configuration, whereas dual-energy short- and half-scan data are extracted from the corresponding full-scan data. Besides visual inspection and profile-plot comparison, the reconstructed images are analyzed also in quantitative studies based upon tasks of linear-attenuation-coefficient and material-concentration estimation and of material differentiation. Following the performance of a computer-simulation study to verify that the one-step method can reconstruct numerically accurately basis and monochromatic images of numerical phantoms, we reconstruct basis and monochromatic images by using the one-step method from real data of physical phantoms collected with the full-, short-, and half-scan configurations. Subjective inspection based upon visualization and profile-plot comparison reveals that monochromatic images, which are used often in practical applications, reconstructed from the full-, short-, and half-scan data are largely visually comparable except for some

  3. The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Simulation Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fegan, Stephen; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, S.; Funk, S.; Konopelko, A.; Maier, G.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Simulation Studies Working Group; AGIS Collaboration

    2008-03-01

    The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS) is a concept for the next generation instrument in ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It has the goal of achieving significant improvement in sensitivity over current experiments. We present the results of simulation studies of various possible designs for AGIS. The primary characteristics of the array performance, collecting area, angular resolution, background rejection, and sensitivity are discussed.

  4. Implementation of a high-resolution workstation for primary diagnosis of projection radiography images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Good, Walter F.; Herron, John M.; Maitz, Glenn S.; Gur, David; Miller, Stephen L.; Straub, William H.; Fuhrman, Carl R.

    1990-08-01

    We designed and implemented a high-resolution video workstation as the central hardware component in a comprehensive multi-project program comparing the use of digital and film modalities. The workstation utilizes a 1.8 GByte real-time disk (RCI) capable of storing 400 full-resolution images and two Tektronix (GMA251) display controllers with 19" monitors (GMA2O2). The display is configured in a portrait format with a resolution of 1536 x 2048 x 8 bit, and operates at 75 Hz in a noninterlaced mode. Transmission of data through a 12 to 8 bit lookup table into the display controllers occurs at 20 MBytes/second (.35 seconds per image). The workstation allows easy use of brightness (level) and contrast (window) to be manipulated with a trackball, and various processing options can be selected using push buttons. Display of any of the 400 images is also performed at 20MBytes/sec (.35 sec/image). A separate text display provides for the automatic display of patient history data and for a scoring form through which readers can interact with the system by means of a computer mouse. In addition, the workstation provides for the randomization of cases and for the immediate entry of diagnostic responses into a master database. Over the past year this workstation has been used for over 10,000 readings in diagnostic studies related to 1) image resolution; 2) film vs. soft display; 3) incorporation of patient history data into the reading process; and 4) usefulness of image processing.

  5. JEM-X: The X-ray monitor on INTEGRAL

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Budtz-Jørgensen, Carl; Lund, Niels; Westergaard, Niels Jørgen Stenfeldt

    2004-01-01

    The INTEGRAL X-ray monitor, JEM-X, (together with the two gamma ray instruments, SPI and IBIS) provides simultaneous imaging with arcminute angular resolution in the 3-35 keV band. The good angular resolution and low energy response of JEM-X plays an important role in the detection and identifica......The INTEGRAL X-ray monitor, JEM-X, (together with the two gamma ray instruments, SPI and IBIS) provides simultaneous imaging with arcminute angular resolution in the 3-35 keV band. The good angular resolution and low energy response of JEM-X plays an important role in the detection...

  6. Time-optimized high-resolution readout-segmented diffusion tensor imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gernot Reishofer

    Full Text Available Readout-segmented echo planar imaging with 2D navigator-based reacquisition is an uprising technique enabling the sampling of high-resolution diffusion images with reduced susceptibility artifacts. However, low signal from the small voxels and long scan times hamper the clinical applicability. Therefore, we introduce a regularization algorithm based on total variation that is applied directly on the entire diffusion tensor. The spatially varying regularization parameter is determined automatically dependent on spatial variations in signal-to-noise ratio thus, avoiding over- or under-regularization. Information about the noise distribution in the diffusion tensor is extracted from the diffusion weighted images by means of complex independent component analysis. Moreover, the combination of those features enables processing of the diffusion data absolutely user independent. Tractography from in vivo data and from a software phantom demonstrate the advantage of the spatially varying regularization compared to un-regularized data with respect to parameters relevant for fiber-tracking such as Mean Fiber Length, Track Count, Volume and Voxel Count. Specifically, for in vivo data findings suggest that tractography results from the regularized diffusion tensor based on one measurement (16 min generates results comparable to the un-regularized data with three averages (48 min. This significant reduction in scan time renders high resolution (1 × 1 × 2.5 mm(3 diffusion tensor imaging of the entire brain applicable in a clinical context.

  7. Uncertainty principle for angular position and angular momentum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franke-Arnold, Sonja; Barnett, Stephen M; Yao, Eric; Leach, Jonathan; Courtial, Johannes; Padgett, Miles

    2004-01-01

    The uncertainty principle places fundamental limits on the accuracy with which we are able to measure the values of different physical quantities (Heisenberg 1949 The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory (New York: Dover); Robertson 1929 Phys. Rev. 34 127). This has profound effects not only on the microscopic but also on the macroscopic level of physical systems. The most familiar form of the uncertainty principle relates the uncertainties in position and linear momentum. Other manifestations include those relating uncertainty in energy to uncertainty in time duration, phase of an electromagnetic field to photon number and angular position to angular momentum (Vaccaro and Pegg 1990 J. Mod. Opt. 37 17; Barnett and Pegg 1990 Phys. Rev. A 41 3427). In this paper, we report the first observation of the last of these uncertainty relations and derive the associated states that satisfy the equality in the uncertainty relation. We confirm the form of these states by detailed measurement of the angular momentum of a light beam after passage through an appropriate angular aperture. The angular uncertainty principle applies to all physical systems and is particularly important for systems with cylindrical symmetry

  8. Spatial scales of pollution from variable resolution satellite imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chudnovsky, Alexandra A; Kostinski, Alex; Lyapustin, Alexei; Koutrakis, Petros

    2013-01-01

    The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provides daily global coverage, but the 10 km resolution of its aerosol optical depth (AOD) product is not adequate for studying spatial variability of aerosols in urban areas. Recently, a new Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm was developed for MODIS which provides AOD at 1 km resolution. Using MAIAC data, the relationship between MAIAC AOD and PM(2.5) as measured by the EPA ground monitoring stations was investigated at varying spatial scales. Our analysis suggested that the correlation between PM(2.5) and AOD decreased significantly as AOD resolution was degraded. This is so despite the intrinsic mismatch between PM(2.5) ground level measurements and AOD vertically integrated measurements. Furthermore, the fine resolution results indicated spatial variability in particle concentration at a sub-10 km scale. Finally, this spatial variability of AOD within the urban domain was shown to depend on PM(2.5) levels and wind speed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Lattice and strain analysis of atomic resolution Z-contrast images based on template matching

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zuo, Jian-Min, E-mail: jianzuo@uiuc.edu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Shah, Amish B. [Center for Microanalysis of Materials, Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Kim, Honggyu; Meng, Yifei; Gao, Wenpei [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States); Rouviére, Jean-Luc [CEA-INAC/UJF-Grenoble UMR-E, SP2M, LEMMA, Minatec, Grenoble 38054 (France)

    2014-01-15

    A real space approach is developed based on template matching for quantitative lattice analysis using atomic resolution Z-contrast images. The method, called TeMA, uses the template of an atomic column, or a group of atomic columns, to transform the image into a lattice of correlation peaks. This is helped by using a local intensity adjusted correlation and by the design of templates. Lattice analysis is performed on the correlation peaks. A reference lattice is used to correct for scan noise and scan distortions in the recorded images. Using these methods, we demonstrate that a precision of few picometers is achievable in lattice measurement using aberration corrected Z-contrast images. For application, we apply the methods to strain analysis of a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown LaMnO{sub 3} and SrMnO{sub 3} superlattice. The results show alternating epitaxial strain inside the superlattice and its variations across interfaces at the spatial resolution of a single perovskite unit cell. Our methods are general, model free and provide high spatial resolution for lattice analysis. - Highlights: • A real space approach is developed for strain analysis using atomic resolution Z-contrast images and template matching. • A precision of few picometers is achievable in the measurement of lattice displacements. • The spatial resolution of a single perovskite unit cell is demonstrated for a LaMnO{sub 3} and SrMnO{sub 3} superlattice grown by MBE.

  10. High spatial resolution whole-body MR angiography featuring parallel imaging: initial experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quick, H.H.; Vogt, F.M.; Madewald, S.; Herborn, C.U.; Bosk, S.; Goehde, S.; Debatin, J.F.; Ladd, M.E.

    2004-01-01

    Materials and methods: whole-body multi-station MRA was performed with a rolling table platform (AngioSURF) on 5 volunteers in two imaging series: 1) standard imaging protocol, 2) modified high-resolution protocol employing PAT using the generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisitions (GRAPPA) algorithm with an acceleration factor of 3. For an intra-individual comparison of the two MR examinations, the arterial vasculature was divided into 30 segments. Signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) were calculated for all 30 arterial segments of each subject. Vessel segment depiction was qualitatively assessed applying a 5-point scale to each of the segments. Image reconstruction times were recorded for the standard as well as the PAT protocol. Results: compared to the standard protocol, PAT allowed for increased spatial resolution through a 3-fold reduction in mean voxel size for each of the 5 stations. Mean SNR and CNR values over all specified vessel segments decreased by a factor of 1.58 and 1.56, respectively. Despite the reduced SNR and CNR, the depiction of all specified vessel segments increased in PAT images, reflecting the increased spatial resolution. Qualitative comparison of standard and PAT images showed an increase in vessel segment conspicuity with more detailed depiction of intramuscular arterial branches in all volunteers. The time for image data reconstruction of all 5 stations was significantly increased from about 10 minutes to 40 minutes when using the PAT acquisition. (orig.) [de

  11. High resolution iridocorneal angle imaging system by axicon lens assisted gonioscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perinchery, Sandeep Menon; Shinde, Anant; Fu, Chan Yiu; Jeesmond Hong, Xun Jie; Baskaran, Mani; Aung, Tin; Murukeshan, Vadakke Matham

    2016-07-01

    Direct visualization and assessment of the iridocorneal angle (ICA) region with high resolution is important for the clinical evaluation of glaucoma. However, the current clinical imaging systems for ICA do not provide sufficient structural details due to their poor resolution. The key challenges in achieving high quality ICA imaging are its location in the anterior region of the eye and the occurrence of total internal reflection due to refractive index difference between cornea and air. Here, we report an indirect axicon assisted gonioscopy imaging probe with white light illumination. The illustrated results with this probe shows significantly improved visualization of structures in the ICA including TM region, compared to the current available tools. It could reveal critical details of ICA and expected to aid management by providing information that is complementary to angle photography and gonioscopy.

  12. High-resolution Imaging of Deuterium-Tritium Capsule Implosions on the National Ignition Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bachmann, Benjamin; Rygg, Ryan; Collins, Gilbert; Patel, Pravesh

    2017-10-01

    Highly-resolved 3-D simulations of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions predict a hot spot plasma that exhibits complex micron-scale structure originating from a variety of 3-D perturbations. Experimental diagnosis of these conditions requires high spatial resolution imaging techniques. X-ray penumbral imaging can improve the spatial resolution over pinhole imaging while simultaneously increasing the detected photon yield at x-ray energies where the ablator opacity becomes negligible. Here we report on the first time-integrated x-ray penumbral imaging experiments of ICF capsule implosions at the National Ignition Facility that achieved spatial resolution as high as 4 micrometer. 6 to 30 keV hot spot images from layered DT implosions will be presented from a variety of experimental ICF campaigns, revealing previously unseen detail. It will be discussed how these and future results can be used to improve our physics understanding of inertially confined fusion plasmas by enabling spatially resolved measurements of hot spot properties, such as radiation energy, temperature or derived quantities. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

  13. Windowed time-reversal music technique for super-resolution ultrasound imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Lianjie; Labyed, Yassin

    2018-05-01

    Systems and methods for super-resolution ultrasound imaging using a windowed and generalized TR-MUSIC algorithm that divides the imaging region into overlapping sub-regions and applies the TR-MUSIC algorithm to the windowed backscattered ultrasound signals corresponding to each sub-region. The algorithm is also structured to account for the ultrasound attenuation in the medium and the finite-size effects of ultrasound transducer elements.

  14. A search for quark compositeness at the LHC. Dijet angular distributions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Usubov, Z.U.; Abdinov, O.B.

    1999-01-01

    The effects of dijet angular distributions coming from a model of quark compositeness are considered. The influence of the parton distribution function, calorimeter non-linearity and energy resolution is investigated. The data sensitivity to the quark compositeness scale for low and high LHC luminosity is studied

  15. Echo planar perfusion imaging with high spatial and temporal resolution: methodology and clinical aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bitzer, M.; Klose, U.; Naegele, T.; Friese, S.; Kuntz, R.; Voigt, K.; Fetter, M.; Opitz, H.

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to analyse specific advantages of calculated parameter images and their limitations using an optimized echo-planar imaging (EPI) technique with high spatial and temporal resolution. Dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) was performed in 12 patients with cerebrovascular disease and in 13 patients with brain tumours. For MR imaging of cerebral perfusion an EPI sequence was developed which provides a temporal resolution of 0.68 s for three slices with a 128 x 128 image matrix. To evaluate DSC-MRI, the following parameter images were calculated pixelwise: (1) Maximum signal reduction (MSR); (2) maximum signal difference (ΔSR); (3) time-to-peak (T p ); and (4) integral of signal-intensity-time curve until T p (S Int ). The MSR maps were superior in the detection of acute infarctions and ΔSR maps in the delineation of vasogenic brain oedema. The time-to-peak (T p ) maps seemed to be highly sensitive in the detection of poststenotic malperfused brain areas (sensitivity 90 %). Hyperperfused areas of brain tumours were detectable down to a diameter of 1 cm with high sensitivity (> 90 %). Distinct clinical and neuroradiological conditions revealed different suitabilities for the parameter images. The time-to-peak (T p ) maps may be an important advantage in the detection of poststenotic ''areas at risk'', due to an improved temporal resolution using an EPI technique. With regard to spatial resolution, a matrix size of 128 x 128 is sufficient for all clinical conditions. According to our results, a further increase in matrix size would not improve the spatial resolution in DSC-MRI, since the degree of the vascularization of lesions and the susceptibility effect itself seem to be the limiting factors. (orig.)

  16. Low-resolution ship detection from high-altitude aerial images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Shengxiang; Wu, Jianmin; Zhou, Qing; Kang, Minyang

    2018-02-01

    Ship detection from optical images taken by high-altitude aircrafts such as unmanned long-endurance airships and unmanned aerial vehicles has broad applications in marine fishery management, ship monitoring and vessel salvage. However, the major challenge is the limited capability of information processing on unmanned high-altitude platforms. Furthermore, in order to guarantee the wide detection range, unmanned aircrafts generally cruise at high altitudes, resulting in imagery with low-resolution targets and strong clutters suffered by heavy clouds. In this paper, we propose a low-resolution ship detection method to extract ships from these high-altitude optical images. Inspired by a recent research on visual saliency detection indicating that small salient signals could be well detected by a gradient enhancement operation combined with Gaussian smoothing, we propose the facet kernel filtering to rapidly suppress cluttered backgrounds and delineate candidate target regions from the sea surface. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) is used to compute the orientation of the target axis, followed by a simplified histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) descriptor to characterize the ship shape property. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) is applied to discriminate real targets and false alarms. Experimental results show that the proposed method actually has high efficiency in low-resolution ship detection.

  17. Imaging three-dimensional surface objects with submolecular resolution by atomic force microscopy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Moreno, C.; Stetsovych, Oleksandr; Shimizu, T.K.; Custance, O.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 15, č. 4 (2015), s. 2257-2262 ISSN 1530-6984 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC- AFM ) * submolecular resolution * three-dimensional dynamic force spectroscopy * high-resolution imaging Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 13.779, year: 2015

  18. High resolution SPECT imaging for visualization of intratumoral heterogeneity using a SPECT/CT scanner dedicated for small animal imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umeda, Izumi O.; Tani, Kotaro; Tsuda, Keisuke

    2012-01-01

    Tumor interiors are never homogeneous and in vivo visualization of intratumoral heterogeneity would be an innovation that contributes to improved cancer therapy. But, conventional nuclear medicine tests have failed to visualize heterogeneity in vivo because of limited spatial resolution. Recently developed single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) scanners dedicated for small animal imaging are of interest due to their excellent spatial resolution of 111 In and simulations of actual small animal imaging. The optimal conditions obtained were validated by in vivo imaging of sarcoma 180-bearing mice. Larger number of counts must be obtained within limited acquisition time to visualize tumor heterogeneity in vivo in animal imaging, compared to cases that simply detect tumors. At an acquisition time of 30 min, better image quality was obtained with pinhole apertures diameter of 1.4 mm than of 1.0 mm. The obtained best spatial resolution was 1.3 mm, it was acceptable for our purpose, though a little worse than the best possible performance of the scanner (1.0 mm). Additionally, the reconstruction parameters, such as noise suppression, voxel size, and iteration/subset number, needed to be optimized under the limited conditions and were different from those found under the ideal condition. The minimal radioactivity concentration for visualization of heterogeneous tumor interiors was estimated to be as high as 0.2-0.5 MBq/mL. Liposomes containing 111 In met this requirement and were administered to tumor-bearing mice. SPECT imaging successfully showed heterogeneous 111 In distribution within the tumors in vivo with good spatial resolution. A threshold of 0.2 MBq/g for clear visualization of tumor heterogeneity was validated. Autoradiograms obtained ex vivo of excised tumors confirmed that the in vivo SPECT images accurately depicted the heterogeneous intratumoral accumulation of liposomes. Intratumoral heterogeneity was successfully visualized under the optimized

  19. Animals In Synchrotrons: Overcoming Challenges For High-Resolution, Live, Small-Animal Imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donnelley, Martin; Parsons, David; Morgan, Kaye; Siu, Karen

    2010-01-01

    Physiological studies in small animals can be complicated, but the complexity is increased dramatically when performing live-animal synchrotron X-ray imaging studies. Our group has extensive experience in high-resolution live-animal imaging at the Japanese SPring-8 synchrotron, primarily examining airways in two-dimensions. These experiments normally image an area of 1.8 mmx1.2 mm at a pixel resolution of 0.45 μm and are performed with live, intact, anaesthetized mice.There are unique challenges in this experimental setting. Importantly, experiments must be performed in an isolated imaging hutch not specifically designed for small-animal imaging. This requires equipment adapted to remotely monitor animals, maintain their anesthesia, and deliver test substances while collecting images. The horizontal synchrotron X-ray beam has a fixed location and orientation that limits experimental flexibility. The extremely high resolution makes locating anatomical regions-of-interest slow and can result in a high radiation dose, and at this level of magnification small animal movements produce motion-artifacts that can render acquired images unusable. Here we describe our experimental techniques and how we have overcome several challenges involved in performing live mouse synchrotron imaging.Experiments have tested different mouse strains, with hairless strains minimizing overlying skin and hair artifacts. Different anesthetics have also be trialed due to the limited choices available at SPring-8. Tracheal-intubation methods have been refined and controlled-ventilation is now possible using a specialized small-animal ventilator. With appropriate animal restraint and respiratory-gating, motion-artifacts have been minimized. The animal orientation (supine vs. head-high) also appears to affect animal physiology, and can alter image quality. Our techniques and image quality at SPring-8 have dramatically improved and in the near future we plan to translate this experience to the

  20. High-Spatial- and High-Temporal-Resolution Dynamic Contrast-enhanced MR Breast Imaging with Sweep Imaging with Fourier Transformation: A Pilot Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, John C.; Idiyatullin, Djaudat; Snyder, Angela L.; Snyder, Carl J.; Hutter, Diane; Everson, Lenore I.; Eberly, Lynn E.; Nelson, Michael T.; Garwood, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Purpose To report the results of sweep imaging with Fourier transformation (SWIFT) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for diagnostic breast imaging. Materials and Methods Informed consent was obtained from all participants under one of two institutional review board–approved, HIPAA-compliant protocols. Twelve female patients (age range, 19–54 years; mean age, 41.2 years) and eight normal control subjects (age range, 22–56 years; mean age, 43.2 years) enrolled and completed the study from January 28, 2011, to March 5, 2013. Patients had previous lesions that were Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System 4 and 5 based on mammography and/or ultrasonographic imaging. Contrast-enhanced SWIFT imaging was completed by using a 4-T research MR imaging system. Noncontrast studies were completed in the normal control subjects. One of two sized single-breast SWIFT-compatible transceiver coils was used for nine patients and five controls. Three patients and five control subjects used a SWIFT-compatible dual breast coil. Temporal resolution was 5.9–7.5 seconds. Spatial resolution was 1.00 mm isotropic, with later examinations at 0.67 mm isotropic, and dual breast at 1.00 mm or 0.75 mm isotropic resolution. Results Two nonblinded breast radiologists reported SWIFT image findings of normal breast tissue, benign fibroadenomas (six of six lesions), and malignant lesions (10 of 12 lesions) concordant with other imaging modalities and pathologic reports. Two lesions in two patients were not visualized because of coil field of view. The images yielded by SWIFT showed the presence and extent of known breast lesions. Conclusion The SWIFT technique could become an important addition to breast imaging modalities because it provides high spatial resolution at all points during the dynamic contrast-enhanced examination. © RSNA, 2014 PMID:25247405