Extended depth-of-field 3D endoscopy with synthetic aperture integral imaging using an electrically tunable focal-length liquid-crystal lens.

Conventional synthetic-aperture integral imaging uses a lens array to sense the three-dimensional (3D) object or scene that can then be reconstructed digitally or optically. However, integral imaging generally suffers from a fixed and limited range of depth of field (DOF). In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate a 3D integral-imaging endoscopy with tunable DOF by using a single large-aperture focal-length-tunable liquid crystal (LC) lens. The proposed system can provide high spatial resolution and an extended DOF in synthetic-aperture integral imaging 3D endoscope. In our experiments, the image plane in the integral imaging pickup process can be tuned from 18 to 38 mm continuously using a large-aperture LC lens, and the total DOF is extended from 12 to 51 mm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on synthetic aperture integral imaging 3D endoscopy with a large-aperture LC lens that can provide high spatial resolution 3D imaging with an extend DOF.