Near-field millimeter wave imaging

摘要

Systems and method for near-field millimeter wave imaging are provided, in particular, near-field millimeter wave imaging systems and methods that enable sub-wavelength resolution imaging by scanning objects with sub-wavelength probe elements and capturing and measuring phase and intensity of reflected energy to generate images.

主权项

1. A near-field imaging system, comprising:
a scanning device adapted to scan a surface of a target object by emitting electromagnetic energy having a wavelength at a given operating frequency, capturing reflected electromagnetic energy from the target object, and by measuring an intensity and phase of the reflected energy, wherein the scanning device comprises a probe having sub-wavelength dimensions, which is used to emit the electromagnetic energy and capture the reflected energy; and an imager configured to render an image of the target object using the measured intensity and phase of the reflected energy, wherein the image is rendered having a sub-wavelength resolution, wherein rendering an image of the target object comprises:
utilizing the measured intensity and phase of the reflected energy to estimate a dielectric constant of constituent elements of the scanned target object, wherein the dielectric constant is estimated based on a function of a variance of the measured intensity of the reflected energy over a set of points of the target object, and a function of a variance of the measured phase of the reflected energy over the set of points,estimating differences in the dielectric constant of constituent elements of the scanned target object, andrendering the image based on the estimated differences in the dielectric constant of the constituent elements of the scanned object.