Michelson wide-field stellar interferometry

The main goal of this thesis is to develop a system to permit wide field operation of Michelson Interferometers. A wide field of view is very important in applications such as the observation of extended or multiple objects, the fringe acquisition and/ or tracking on a nearby unresolved object, and also to reduce the observation time. For ground...

Adaptive motion compensation in sonar array processing

In recent years, sonar performance has mainly improved via a significant increase in array ap-erture, signal bandwidth and computational power. This thesis aims at improving sonar array processing techniques based on these three steps forward. In applications such as anti-submarine warfare and mine hunting motion of the sonar needs to be...

Imaging of defects in girth welds using inverse wave field extrapolation of ultrasonic data

Ultrasonic non-destructive testing is a renowned method for the inspection of girth welds. However, defect sizing and characterization remains challenging with the current inspection philosophy. In addition, data display and interpretation is not straightforward and requires skill and experience from the inspector. A better and more reliable...

The Extended Nijboer-Zernike Diffraction Theory and its Applications

In present-day society, we encounter optical systems on a daily basis. Most people have a DVD player capable of playing content stored on an optical disc, Big Brother is watching us nearly everywhere using surveillance cameras and we consider it to be normal to take photographs with our mobile phone. Also, in less visible areas, such as...

Fish-Eye Observing with Phased Array Radio Telescopes

The radio astronomical community is currently developing and building several new radio telescopes based on phased array technology. These telescopes provide a large field-of-view, that may in principle span a full hemisphere. This makes calibration and imaging very challenging tasks due to the complex source structures and direction dependent...

Imaging of material inhomogeneities with flexural waves

The detection of inhomogeneities in plates or plate-like structures constitutes a major problem in the field of non-destructive testing. For a few decades, classical techniques based on X-ray radiography have - as far as possible - been complemented and replaced by the usage of vibrations or acoustical waves due to the fact that these are less...

Short-Range Ultra-Wideband Imaging with Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Arrays

Compact, cost-efficient and high-resolution imaging sensors are especially desirable in the field of short-range observation and surveillance. Such sensors are of great value in fields of security, rescue and medical applications. Systems can be formed for various practical purposes, such as detecting concealed weapons in public places, locating...

Imaging velocity and attenuation scatterers with wave equation migration

The thesis deals with wave-equation migration in a visco-acoustic medium, where an ambiguity appears when one tries to image simultaneous velocity and attenuation perturbations.

Image acquisition and reconstruction in multi-pinhole emission tomography

Nowadays, tomographic imaging techniques are inseparable from modern medical practice as they allow non-invasive 3-dimensional visualization of the interior of a patient in order to e.g. establish a medical diagnosis, or to monitor disease progression and the effects of disease treatment. Next to clinical use, tomographic imaging techniques are...

Combined imaging and velocity estimation by Joint Migration Inversion

Seismic imaging projects aim to reveal the structure of the earths crust from seismic data. These projects typically include three separate processing steps, being: • attenuation of multiple reflections in the seismic data. • estimating seismic wave propagation velocities from the seismic data. • mapping the measured reflection data to the...

3-D seismic acquisition geometry design and analysis: Investigation of the requirements to include illumination from all multiples

A seismic survey should be designed such that imaging of the acquired data leads to a sufficiently accurate subsurface image. For that purpose, methods for acquisition geometry analysis and design are available. These methods are used to judge whether an acquisition geometry is suited for the specified objectives. Conventional 2D and 3D...

Applications of Optical Birefringence: With Natural-Materials and Meta-Materials

The beauty of optical birefringence lies in the fact that it provides an independent control of light over different polarization directions, which leads to many important applications in today's optical systems. This thesis describes the applications of existing naturally-occurring birefringent materials as well as the engineered formed...