Compound eye image scanner optimally arranged for image combining and suppressing axial chromatic aberration by wavefront coding

A compound eye optical system design allows us to construct a compact image scanner with a large field of view and a large depth of field, both of which are beneficial for use in a copier’s flatbed scanner. Our prototypes are constructed of 32 or 28 imaging units, which are ommatidia, and the representations from the imaging units are electrically combined. Since the arrangement of the imaging units is a key factor in combining the images correctly without any loss at the boundaries, we discuss two types of arrangements along with results of their prototypes: a one-line arrangement of varying magnification imaging units and a two-line staggered arrangement of telecentric imaging units. We also discuss the effectiveness of wavefront coding (WFC) in suppressing chromatic aberration, which is caused using cheap refractive imaging units, along with experimental results of applying both cubic- and quartic-phase-modulated WFC.