Beam shifting devices

High native resolution can be costly, in particular when pixels need to be large. This holds true for DMD and micro-LED displays or thermal and high sensitivity CCD or CMOS sensors.

Optotune’s Pixel Shifters are an affordable and reliable way to quadruple the resolution. Only a few millimeters thin, they can be placed between display/sensor and the projection/imaging optics.

Compact, light-weight
Fast transition times
Low acoustic noise
Fully pre-calibrated up to 75°C

By accurately tilting a glass window, light that passes through it is shifted laterally. The tilt is achieved by using a system of voice coil actuators that require control by two current sources, either DAC- or PWM-based. To achieve optimal performance, each beam shifter is tested and calibrated with waveform and temperature compensation data in its EEPROM.

Optotune’s beam shifters provide a convenient and cost-effective way to achieve up to four times higher effective resolution from a sensor or display without increasing its physical size or requiring smaller pixels. The advantage extends beyond the sensor or display itself: because the same imaging or projection optics can be used, there is no need for larger or higher-quality lenses, which are typically required for higher native resolutions. Owing to their ultra-thin design, Optotune’s beam shifters can be easily integrated between the sensor or display and the lens.

Monochrome camera +40% lateral resolution

Resolution increases from 198 Ip/mm (USAF group 4 element 4) to 280 Ip/mm (USAF group 5 element 1), which is far beyond the Nyquist limit of 208 Ip/mm for this camera (IMX183).

Color camera +100% lateral resolution

Resolution increases from 65 Ip/mm (USAF group 3 element 4) to 130 Ip/mm (USAF group 4 element 4), which is close to the Nyquist limit of 145 Ip/mm for this camera (IMX265) allowing to achieve full resolution on all three color channels.

Display inspection

The example above applied to display inspection shows that with a higher resolution on all color channels it is easier to detect defects on a color display. Can you spot the two missing red pixels?