# Super-resolution image projection over an extended depth of field using a diffractive decoder

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03938 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03938/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 45 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Oct 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Delving Deep into Rectifiers: Surpassing Human-Level Performance on ImageNet Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.01852/) (2015)
- [Instance Normalization: The Missing Ingredient for Fast Stylization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.08022/) (2016)
- [A Neural Representation of Sketch Drawings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.03477/) (2017)
- [EMNIST: an extension of MNIST to handwritten letters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.05373/) (2017)
- [All-Optical Machine Learning Using Diffractive Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.08711/) (2018)
- [Misalignment Resilient Diffractive Optical Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11464/) (2020)
- [Analysis of Diffractive Optical Neural Networks and Their Integration with Electronic Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.01916/) (2018)
- [Data class-specific all-optical transformations and encryption](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12873/) (2022)
- [Scale-, shift- and rotation-invariant diffractive optical networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.12747/) (2020)
- [Time-multiplexed Neural Holography: A flexible framework for holographic near-eye displays with fast heavily-quantized spatial light modulators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.02367/) (2022)
- [Super-resolution image display using diffractive decoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07281/) (2022)
- [Neural 'Etendue Expander for Ultra-Wide-Angle High-Fidelity Holographic Display](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.08123/) (2021)
- [Optical Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.17970/) (2024)
- [Learning Wavefront Coding for Extended Depth of Field Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.13423/) (2019)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Image projection systems must be efficient in data storage, computation and transmission while maintaining a large space-bandwidth-product (SBP) at their output. Here, we introduce a hybrid image projection system that achieves extended depth-of-field (DOF) with improved resolution, combining a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based digital encoder with an all-optical diffractive decoder. A CNN-based encoder compresses input images into compact phase representations, which are subsequently displayed by a low-resolution (LR) projector and processed by an analog diffractive decoder for all-optical image reconstruction. This optical decoder is completely passive, designed to synthesize pixel super-resolved image projections that feature an extended DOF while eliminating the need for additional power consumption for super-resolved image reconstruction. Our pixel super-resolution (PSR) image projection system demonstrates high-fidelity image synthesis over an extended DOF of ~267xW, where W is the illumination wavelength, concurrently offering up to ~16-fold SBP improvement at each lateral plane. The proof of concept of this approach is validated through an experiment conducted in the THz spectrum, and the system is scalable across different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This image projection architecture can reduce data storage and transmission requirements for display systems without imposing additional power constraints on the optical decoder. Beyond extended DOF PSR image projection, the underlying principles of this approach can be extended to various applications, including optical metrology and microscopy.