Resolution analysis of an angular domain imaging system with two dimensional angular filters

Angular Domain Imaging (ADI) employs an angular filter to distinguish between quasi-ballistic and scattered photons based on trajectory. A 2D angular filter array was constructed using 3D printing technology to generate an array of micro-channels 500 μm x 500 μm with a length of 12 cm. The main barrier to 2D imaging with the 2D angular filter array was the shadows cast on the image by the 500 μm walls of the angular filter. The objective of this work was to perform a resolution analysis of the 2D angular filter array. The approach was to position the AFA with a two dimensional positioning stage to obtain images of areas normally obstructed by the walls of the AFA. A digital light processor was also incorporated to generate various light patterns to improve the contrast of the images. A resolution analysis was completed by imaging a knife edge submerged in various uniform scattering media (Intralipid® dilutions with water). The edge response functions obtained were then used to compute the line spread function and the theoretical resolution of the imaging system. The theoretical system resolution was measured to be between 110 μm - 180 μm when the scattering level was at or below 0.7% Intralipid®. The theoretical resolution was in agreement with a previous resolution analysis of a silicon-based angular filter with a similar aspect ratio. The measured resolution was also found to be smaller than the size of an individual channel, suggesting that the resolution of an AFA based ADI system is not dependent on the size of the micro-channel.