Electronically Actuated Pixelated Aperture for High Sensitivity WFOV Imaging in Sunlight

In this Phase I SBIR, a Voxtel Inc.-led team will develop and prototype a novel low-cost solar-brightness-blocking optical system for imagers to enable high-quality imaging over a wide field of view (FOV > 90 degrees) in the presence of direct sunlight within the FOV. The system will be based on a biologically inspired compound eye, with built-in small-FOV (< 3 degree) apertures to block sunlight and prevent blooming in sensitive imagers, using an active system with moving pigments that blocks or attenuates sunlight on demand. Biological systems such as these cannot be mimicked simply and directly with existing processes. Thus, a pair of gradient-refractive-index (GRIN) lenslet arrays will be fabricated that break the FOV into subapertures with a tight focal plane between them, and an electrophoretic light-attenuating cell array (ELACA) will be fabricated to block the light at the beam waist before it is delivered (via the second lenslet array) to the imaging camera. Lenses in an array will be varied, or chirped, as needed (each being different than its neighbor) to reduce wide-angle aberrations. Light transmission will be nearly 100% in the off state, and about 10 nJ will be used for each on/off cycle.