Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2022-2023)

This application involves a research program focused on constructing new types of imaging devices and developing their associated methods of imaging to be used to make new measurements of the properties of objects that target climate change, medical imaging and advanced materials technology. Two engineering challenges require funding for the successful development of these imaging devices, a new type of phase array detector and the determination of the transfer function of the imaged objects. The imaging devices requiring the phase array detectors and object transfer functions include a confocal scanning laser holography (CSLH) microscope to make non-invasive, three dimensional (3D) phase images of the 3D temperature distribution within liquids required for mass and heat transfer studies; a scanning transmission electron holography microscope (STEHM) to make phase images of material nanostructures necessary to gain insights into their properties for climate change, quantum computing and atomic specimen manipulations; a recently installed scanning transmission ion microscope (STIM); an imager of the Earth’s atmosphere, the software Defined Radio (SDR) Earth Atmosphere Imager, targeted to measure the properties of the Earth’s atmosphere such as its power, energy and mass transport as well as its 3D temperature, pressure and composition from the surface of the Earth to the Earth’s ionization layer(s); a Software Defined Sonar (SDS) Ocean Imager targeted to measure the energy and mass transport of the upper layers of the ocean as well as their 3D temperature, pressure and composition from the water/air interface to its thermoclines and a Diffuse Acoustic Confocal Imager (DACI) targeted for routine prostate and ovarian examinations with the potential to image, diagnose, treat diseased tissue and monitor the treatment process.

The new type of detector uses a vector network analyzer (VNA) for producing phase images of the objects. Currently each pixel making up the phase image requires its own VNA, which is very expensive and too slow for most applications. Required is a phase multiplexing scheme, which doesn't exist yet, to use just one or a few VNAs instead of hundreds or thousands. A multiplexer is a device that selects one of several input signals and forwards the selected input into a single line used to increase the amount of data that can be sent over the network within a certain amount of time and bandwidth. The purpose of determining the transfer function of the imaged objects is to analyze and thus measure the properties of the imaged objects. Phase images produced by these devices are preferred over amplitude images as they contain the information of the object’s property(ies). A brief description of these imaging systems, their applications, significance, multiplexing and transfer function needs are provided in the grant proposal.