High-speed flame chemiluminescence imaging using time-multiplexed structured detection

Appl Opt. 2018 Apr 10;57(11):2923-2929. doi: 10.1364/AO.57.002923.

Abstract

In this work, high-speed flame chemiluminescence has been obtained by using the time-multiplexed structured detection (TMSD) imaging method from a single snapshot. TMSD sheers the time lapse into the spatial frequency shifts, which allows multiple high-speed images to be frequency upshifted into distinct spatial frequency regions from the original image. A cumulative exposure captured in a single snapshot image contains distinct time evolution. Each distinct image is demultiplexed and recovered by hyperdyne mixing with the modulation frequency. TMSD is an optical frequency domain analog to carrier frequency modulation in radio and microwave detections. Specifically, a digital micromirror device (DMD) spatially modulates flame chemiluminescence just prior to the camera. Spatial frequency of each distinct image is mixed between the original spatial frequency components and DMD modulation pattern frequency, resulting in a coded snapshot. The high-speed flame chemiluminescence image is recovered by demodulation. TMSD is similar to structured illumination used in super-resolution microscopy, but offers more advantages, for it does not alternate incident illumination light. Since DMDs are available with speeds up to 40 kHz, this technique shows promise as a cost-effective means of high-speed imaging and diagnostics of combustion phenomena.