Laser camera sees around corners
If you could tell me that you could see what’s coming around the corner, I would say you have psychic powers. Yet, Professor Ramesh Raskar, head of the Camera Culture group at MIT’s Media Lab, would say you have a new camera.
A group of students from the MIT Media Lab and Raskar have developed a camera that can literally take pictures of something, or someone that’s hidden right around a corner. The complex camera works by using light to go around an obstacle, instead of going through it, incorporating complex computer algorithms with blasts from a femtosecond laser. The laser-based camera system has been called “femtosecond transient imaging.” According to one group member’s paper on transient imaging, Ahmed Kirmani explains that the camera captures a “3D time-image…and uses an ultra-short pulse laser for flash illumination.” These intense bursts of light send photons bouncing around the area, some photons making it back to the camera, recreating the image that’s around the corner.
By using femtosecond transient imaging, the MIT group’s goal is to “…use the finite speed of light to improve image capture and scene understanding.” This technology in image capturing could have some extremely positive impacts in real-world applications. For example, rescuers could potentially use this type of imaging to map out a collapsed building, determining the number of survivors or even the safety situation. Such technology could even be used in automobiles to map out if something unexpected is coming directly around the corner.
With a breakthrough like this, we don’t have to dream about having superpowers such as X-ray vision. All we need is a group of engineers and a camera to make these dreams reality.
Elisa commented:
Wow! Great to find a post knocknig my socks off!
DCE commented:
What about knife-edge diffraction? Would that be a possible 'around-the-corner' propagation mechanism?
NielsFrederiksson commented:
fhgg9
Dr Bob commented:
Given sufficient thrust even pigs will fly
FastEddy commented:
The demonstration of around-the-corner imaging uses a diffuse reflector to illuminate and collect the light. That is, it requires a well-defined surface to bounce the light around the corner.
Chas C-Q commented:
I bet the military and/or police will work out the practical applications first.
bking01 commented:
Despite the cool name "femtosecond laser" it is still light and probably needs to bounce off a surface, aka a wall, to go around a corner. The application for something like an automobile seems a bit of a stretch since most intersections don't have large areas to reflect light around the corner.
