Wide-field nanosecond imaging methods using wide-field optical modulators

1. Apparatus for providing time-resolved optical imaging, the apparatus comprising:

a wide field optical intensity modulator;

one or more 2-D detector arrays;

imaging optics configured to image incident light onto the one or more 2-D detector arrays through the wide field optical intensity modulator;

wherein a temporal bandwidth of the optical modulator is greater than a temporal pixel bandwidth of the one or more 2-D detector arrays;

a processor configured to automatically determine one or more waveform shape parameters of the incident light by analyzing signals from the one or more 2-D detector arrays vs. an input modulation applied to the optical intensity modulator;

wherein the one or more waveform shape parameters of the incident light are determined on a pixel-by-pixel basis of the one or more 2-D detector arrays.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wide field optical intensity modulator comprises a wide field optical polarization modulator disposed between a first polarizer and a second polarizer so as to convert polarization modulation to intensity modulation.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the wide field optical intensity modulator comprises an input polarizer followed by a wide field optical polarization modulator followed by a polarizing beam splitter,

wherein the polarizing beam splitter provides a first output to a first of the 2-D detector arrays and provides a second output to a second of the 2-D detector arrays,

whereby polarization modulation is converted to intensity modulation of the first and second outputs.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the one or more waveform shape parameters includes an exponential decay time, wherein the input modulation is a step function, and wherein the exponential decay time is determined by analysis of single-frame signals from corresponding pixels of the first 2-D detector array and the second 2-D detector array.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wide field optical intensity modulator comprises:

an input polarizing beam splitter having a first output and a second output;

a wide field optical polarization modulator (PM) configured to receive the first and second outputs in parallel and to provide corresponding first and second PM outputs;

a first output polarizing beam splitter configured to receive the first PM output and to provide a third output and a fourth output;

a second output polarizing beam splitter configured to receive the second PM output and to provide a fifth output and a sixth output;

wherein the third output is provided to a first of the 2-D detector arrays;

wherein the fourth output is provided to a second of the 2-D detector arrays;

wherein the fifth output is provided to a third of the 2-D detector arrays;

wherein the sixth output is provided to a fourth of the 2-D detector arrays.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input modulation is a pulse having an automatically adjustable time delay t d after an optical excitation provided to a scene, and wherein the one or more waveform shape parameters include data points of detector array signals vs. time delay.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the input modulation is selected from the group consisting of: a step function, a sampling pulse, and periodic modulation for lock-in detection.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the wide field optical intensity modulator includes a longitudinal Pockels cell having a direction of optical propagation and an applied electric field direction that coincide.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the imaging optics include a multipass optical cavity having a cavity round trip time, wherein the multipass optical cavity is configured to provide optical time resolution according to multiples of the cavity round trip time.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the incident light is a periodic signal that is responsive to a periodic excitation of a scene being viewed, and wherein the wide field optical intensity modulator is resonantly driven synchronously with respect to the periodic signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical intensity modulator includes two or more optical modulators having identical or different input modulation signals.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the imaging optics is configured to view a scene.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein an optical response of the scene to an excitation provides the incident light.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the optical response of the scene is a nonlinear response.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the wide-field optical intensity modulator is driven with a modulation signal having a controllable delay after the excitation.