Point spread function (PSF) engineering has been pivotal in the remarkable progress made in high-resolution imaging in the last decades. However, the diversity in PSF structures attainable through existing engineering methods is limited. Here, we report universal PSF engineering, demonstrating a method to synthesize an arbitrary set of spatially varying 3D PSFs between the input and output volumes of a spatially incoherent diffractive processor composed of cascaded transmissive surfaces. We rigorously analyze the PSF engineering capabilities of such diffractive processors within the diffraction limit of light and provide numerical demonstrations of unique imaging capabilities, such as snapshot 3D multispectral imaging without involving any spectral filters, axial scanning or digital reconstruction steps, which is enabled by the spatial and spectral engineering of 3D PSFs. Our framework and analysis would be important for future advancements in computational imaging, sensing and diffractive processing of 3D optical information.

翻译：点扩散函数（PSF）工程在过去几十年高分辨率成像取得的显著进展中起到了关键作用。然而，现有工程方法所能实现的PSF结构多样性有限。本文报道了一种通用PSF工程方法，展示了在由级联透射面构成的空间非相干衍射处理器中，于输入与输出体积之间合成任意一组空间变化三维PSF的技术。我们严格分析了此类衍射处理器在光的衍射极限内的PSF工程能力，并通过数值仿真展示了独特的成像功能，例如无需任何光谱滤波器、轴向扫描或数字重建步骤即可实现瞬态三维多光谱成像——这得益于三维PSF的空间与光谱工程。我们的框架与分析将为未来计算成像、传感及三维光学信息衍射处理领域的发展提供重要支撑。