200 mm optical synthetic aperture imaging over 120 meters distance via macroscopic Fourier ptychography

Fourier ptychography (FP) imaging, drawing on the idea of synthetic aperture, has been demonstrated as a potential approach for remote sub-diffraction-limited imaging. Nevertheless, the farthest imaging distance is still limited to around 10 m, even though there has been a significant improvement in macroscopic FP. The most severe issue in increasing the imaging distance is the field of view (FoV) limitation caused by far-field conditions for diffraction. Here, we propose to modify the Fourier far-field condition for rough reflective objects, aiming to overcome the small FoV limitation by using a divergent beam to illuminate objects. A joint optimization of pupil function and target image is utilized to attain the aberration-free image while estimating the pupil function simultaneously. Benefiting from the optimized reconstruction algorithm, which effectively expands the camera’s effective aperture, we experimentally implement several FP systems suited for imaging distances of 12 m, 65 m, and 120 m with the maximum synthetic aperture of 200 mm. The maximum synthetic aperture is thus improved by more than one order of magnitude of the state-of-the-art works from the furthest distance, with an over fourfold improvement in the resolution compared to a single aperture. Our findings demonstrate significant potential for advancing the field of macroscopic FP, propelling it into a new stage of development.