Institut National D'optique

Raysecur, Inc

Linda Marchese

Alain Bergeron

Marc Terroux

Charles McAlister Marshall

Alexander Georg Sappok

Michel Doucet

Eric Giroux

Simon Turbide

Fabien Claveau

Francois Berthiaume

Éric Giroux

William Dean Plummer

Martin Briand

Mélanie Leclerc

There is provided object scanning apparatus and methods of scanning objects. The object scanning apparatus may include a THz source emitting an optical beam; an electromagnetic energy source for generating a radiation signal at a wavelength other than terahertz, such as RF or MMW radiation; an optical system for directing the optical beam; a zone for inspecting objects wherein the optical beam and radiation signal interact with the object; a motion device for changing the spatial or temporal interaction of the object and optical beam and the radiation signal; at least one transducer, the at least one transducer including an imaging transducer for converting the optical beam energy and radiation signal after interaction with the object to an electronic image; and a processor for performing processing of the image for use in characterization of the object or its interior contents or composition.

Multi-mode object detection

There is provided an object scanning apparatus. The object scanning apparatus may include a THz source emitting a THz beam; an optical system for directing the THz beam; a zone for inspecting objects wherein the optical beam interacts with the object; a motion device for changing the spatial or temporal interaction of the object and optical beam; at least one transducer, the at least one transducer including an imaging transducer for converting the optical beam energy after interaction with the object to an electronic image; and a processor for performing processing of the image for use in characterization of the object or its interior contents or composition.

Techniques for dynamic object detection

A method and a system for detection and synthetic aperture (SA) imaging of a target are disclosed. The method may include illuminating a scene with a search signal transmitted from a moving platform, receiving a search return signal from a target present in the scene, and estimating, from the search return signal, the range and the angular location of the target. The method may also include generating an SA transmission signal and a local oscillator (LO) signal with a time delay therebetween based on the estimated range, and illuminating the scene with the SA transmission signal pointed along an imaging direction based on the estimated angular location of the target. The method may further include receiving an SA return signal from the target, mixing the SA return signal with the LO signal to generate SA signal data, and generating an SA image of the target from the SA signal data.

Method and system for detection and synthetic aperture imaging of a target

A mail screening apparatus is provided to perform the inspection of mail or similar objects. Terahertz inspection is used to localize potential suspicious areas by imaging the contents inside the envelope or small parcel. The mail screening apparatus includes a primary and a secondary inspection zone, preferably allowing inspection of the mail in a normal and a zoomed mode, respectively. The same light source, image capture device and intervening optical components are used in both normal and zoomed modes. Metal detection may optionally be used to enhance awareness in the presence of metallic content. In one implementation, metal detection zones are provided in an orthogonal configuration with respect to the primary inspection zone used for terahertz imaging to accommodate for both manual and automatic inspection of mail.

Mail screening apparatus

There is described a method for processing data generated by a synthetic aperture imaging system, comprising: receiving raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a target area to be imaged; receiving a parameter change for the synthetic aperture imaging system; digitally correcting the raw data in accordance with the parameter change, thereby compensating for the parameter change in order to obtain corrected data; and generating an image of the target area using the corrected data.

Method and apparatus for compensating for a parameter change in a synthetic aperture imaging system

A beam conditioning device includes a coherence-breaking module and a beam transforming module. The coherence-breaking module is configured to break a spatial coherence between beam components of the light beam and may include coherence-breaking mirrors having a structured pattern on their reflective surfaces. The beam transforming module may include a primary optical element and a secondary optical element and is configured to transform the spatial energy distribution and the footprint of the light beam. The beam conditioning device may be used to transform a Gaussian light beam into a flat-top light beam suitable for terahertz imaging applications, although other initial and/or final energy distributions may be considered.

Optical beam conditioning device with coherence-breaking and beam transforming modules

There is provided a System and method of wavefront compensation in a synthetic aperture imaging system. A return signal data representative of a signal reflected by a target area to be imaged is received. A compensation phase figure corresponding to a wavefront compensation to be applied is provided. The compensation phase figure is added or otherwise applied to the phase pattern of the return signal data in order to obtain a compensated phase pattern. An optical beam is spatially modulated according to the compensated phase pattern to produce a modulated optical beam such that the compensation phase figure produces a wavefront compensation on the optical beam. An image of the target area is optically generated using the modulated optical beam.

Wavefront compensation in optical synthetic aperture imaging processors

There is described a method for determining a Doppler centroid in a synthetic aperture imaging system, comprising: receiving raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a target area; selecting, among the raw data, at least two sets of sub-area data each representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by a corresponding sub-area of the target area, the sub-areas being substantially aligned along an azimuth axis of the target area and having a substantially identical surface area; for each one of the sets of sub-area data, generating an image corresponding to the corresponding sub-area; and measuring a mean intensity of the image; and estimating the Doppler centroid from a skew of an intensity function representing the mean intensity as a function of a look number for the corresponding sub-area.

Method and apparatus for determining a doppler centroid in a synthetic aperture imaging system

There is described a method for generating a synthetic aperture image of a target area, comprising: receiving, from a synthetic aperture imaging system, first raw data representative of electromagnetic signals reflected by the target area and detected by the synthetic aperture imaging system according to a first angle of view; digitally combining the first raw data with second raw data, thereby obtaining combined data, the second raw data being representative of the electromagnetic signals reflected by the target area and detected by the synthetic aperture imaging system according to a second angle of view different from the first angle of view; and generating an interference pattern of the target data using the combined data.

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