Analysis of the impacts of imaging resolution of relay lens on image reconstruction quality in pixel-wise coded exposure imaging technology

Pixel-wise coded exposure (PCE) imaging based on digital micromirror device (DMD) is an advanced high-speed imaging technology, which can realize the high-speed imaging using a low-frame-rate camera. During exposure time, the multi-frame image information of a dynamic object can be integrated into one encoded image, and then the multi-frame sub-exposure images can be extracted by post-processing algorithm. Therefore, the accurate pixel-to-pixel alignment between the DMD and the camera is the key step to realize PCE imaging, which has drawn much attention from researchers. So their studies have mainly focused on how to achieve accurate pixel matching. However, the resolution of the relay imaging lens, as another important influence factor of PCE imaging, is also has a significant impact on the imaging results, but few people study and analyze it. To solve this problem, in this paper, we theoretically analyze the influence of the resolution of the relay imaging system on the reconstructed decoded images, and verifies the theoretical analysis with simulation and imaging experiments. On this basis, a PCE imaging system is built, and a point spread function (PSF) estimation method of relay lens based on the fringe phase is proposed. Furthermore, a Richard-Lucy deconvolution algorithm is introduced into the reconstruction process of coded image to effectively improve the quality of PCE imaging, which is of great significance of the development of PCE imaging technology.