Open AccessMultiplexed coded time domain sampling with metamaterials
Author(s) -
Christian C. Nadell,
Kebin Fan,
Jonathan Y. Suen,
Willie J. Padilla
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.25.025797
Subject(s) - detector , metamaterial , optics , time domain , multiplexing , computer science , signal (programming language) , frequency domain , physics , scalability , signal processing , electronic engineering , telecommunications , radar , computer vision , programming language , engineering , database
The far infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum often necessitates the use of thermal detectors that, by nature, typically have poor response times and diminished sensitivities, at least compared to adjacent bands. However, many signals of interest contain frequency components far too fast to be reliably measured with such detectors, and hence expensive and inefficient alternatives are brought to bear. Here we propose and experimentally validate a new method leveraging the speed and scalability of dynamic metamaterial modulators to encode high-frequency signal components at a lower frequency, making them reliably measurable with thermal detectors that would otherwise be too slow. An optimal weighing scheme design in the time domain is realized, the result being an imaging system whose time resolution is independent of detector speed and is rather limited only by the speed of the modulator and the reproducibility of the signal of interest.