Kenjiro HAMANAKA1 and Hiroshi KOSHI2

1Tsukuba Research Center, Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., 5-4, Tokodai, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki, 300-26 Japan, 2Fiber-optics Division, Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., 5-8-1, Nishi-Hashimoto, Sagamihara-city, Kanagawa, 229 Japan

(Received December 14, 1995; Accepted May 9, 1996)

An artificial compound eye corresponding to apposition eyes of insects has been demonstrated using a two-dimensional array of gradient-index rod lenses known as a Selfoc lens plate (a SLP). A single erect MoirEimage is reconstructed from a number of inverted micro-images by an experimental optical system composed of the SLP, a pinhole array and a plano-concave lens. Characteristics of the compound eye is briefly discussed from the viewpoints of space-bandwidth product, viewing angle, and focal depth. Capability of a scale-invariant image sensor that has been proposed as an application of the compound-eye-type imager was also proved experimentally.

Key words : microlens array, gradient-index lens, compound eye, insects' eye, MoirEimaging, image processing, optical information processing