# Diffractive lensless imaging with optimized Voronoi-Fresnel phase

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.13703 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.13703/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [DiffuserCam: Lensless Single-exposure 3D Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.02134/) (2017)
- [Learned reconstructions for practical mask-based lensless imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.11502/) (2019)
- [FlatNet: Towards Photorealistic Scene Reconstruction from Lensless Measurements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.15440/) (2020)
- [Miniscope3D: optimized single-shot miniature 3D fluorescence microscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.05382/) (2020)
- [Fourier DiffuserScope: Single-shot 3D Fourier light field microscopy with a diffuser](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.16343/) (2020)
- [Single-Shot 3D Widefield Fluorescence Imaging with a Computational Miniature Mesoscope](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.11994/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [End-to-End Hybrid Refractive-Diffractive Lens Design with Differentiable Ray-Wave Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.00834/) (2024)
- [LFD: Enabling Real-World Lensless Face Recognition with a Large-Scale Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.10094/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Lensless cameras are a class of imaging devices that shrink the physical dimensions to the very close vicinity of the image sensor by replacing conventional compound lenses with integrated flat optics and computational algorithms. Here we report a diffractive lensless camera with spatially-coded Voronoi-Fresnel phase to achieve superior image quality. We propose a design principle of maximizing the acquired information in optics to facilitate the computational reconstruction. By introducing an easy-to-optimize Fourier domain metric, Modulation Transfer Function volume (MTFv), which is related to the Strehl ratio, we devise an optimization framework to guide the optimization of the diffractive optical element. The resulting Voronoi-Fresnel phase features an irregular array of quasi-Centroidal Voronoi cells containing a base first-order Fresnel phase function. We demonstrate and verify the imaging performance for photography applications with a prototype Voronoi-Fresnel lensless camera on a 1.6-megapixel image sensor in various illumination conditions. Results show that the proposed design outperforms existing lensless cameras, and could benefit the development of compact imaging systems that work in extreme physical conditions.