A new class of imaging systems that do not require the use of lenses or similar optical devices is introduced and theoretically investigated. In particular, it is demonstrated that, if an arbitrary plane object is illuminated by an appropriate spherical wave front (generated from a monochromatic point source), then a magnified image of the object intensity distribution can be observed in any transversal plane along the light-propagation direction within the far-field (Fraunhofer) diffraction region. The phenomenon is based on the fact that, under certain conditions, the spherical wave front can modify the energy’s angular spectrum of the field distribution in the object plane such that this spectrum replicates the spatial intensity distribution of the object.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

[Optical Society of America ]

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article level metrics are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

Related Journal Articles

• Generalized grating imaging using an extended monochromatic light source (JOSAA)
• Can the Wigner transform of a two-dimensional rotationally symmetric beam be fully recovered from the Wigner transform of its one-dimensional approximation? (OL)
• Nonlinear filtering of backpropagated fields (JOSAA)
• Speckle Imaging and Hidden Phase (AO)
• Spatial Resolution and Noise Tradeoffs in Pinhole Imaging System Design: A Density Estimation Approach (OE)

Related Conference Papers

• Aperture Coding for Three Dimensional Beamforming
• Imaging Using Alternate Point Spread Functions: Lenslets with Pseudo-Random Phase Diversity
• Compressive Optical MONTAGE Photography Initiative: Noise and Error Analysis
• A Perfect Lens Makes a Perfect Trap
• Sub-Optical Wavelength Spatial Imaging of the Periodic Fringes of Total Atomic Density