From Photons to Bits

DEC 01, 1992

A good 35‐mm color negative has the equivalent of 300 million binary bits of information. If you can capture all that visual information in digital form, you can retrieve or transmit it in an instant and manipulate it at will.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881326

Rajinder P. Khosla

There are many ways to record optical images. One might describe Paleolithic cave paintings as the earliest imaging technology. As significant as they probably were to those who made and lived with them, these depictions were limited by the artist’s skill and time, and only persons who entered the cave could benefit from them. It was not until the coming of the printing press that a particular image could be made available to a wide audience. But even then one was still dependent on the artistic skill and subjective vision of the individual artist.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

1. P. K. Weimer, Adv. Electron. Electron Phys. 37, 182 (1974).https://doi.org/AEEPAR
2. W. W. Boyle, G. E. Smith, Bell Syst. Tech. J. 49, 587 (1970).https://doi.org/BSTJAN
3. C. H. Sequin, M. F. Tompsett, Charge Transfer Devices, Ad. Electron. Electron Phys., suppl. 8, Academic, New York (1975).
4. Y. Matsunaga, H. Yamashita, S. Ohsawa, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits 26, 652 (1991).
5. R. P. Khosla, Proc. SPIE 591, 46 (1985).https://doi.org/PSISDG
6. S. G. Chamberlain, D. H. Harper, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 25, 145 (1978).https://doi.org/IETDAI
7. N. Teranish, A. Kohno, Y. Ishihara, E. Ado, K. Arai, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 31, 1829 (1984).https://doi.org/IETDAI
8. E. G. Stevens, Y.‐R. Lee, B. C. Burkey, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 39, 2508 (1992).https://doi.org/IETDAI
9. P. L. Dillon, D. M. Lewis, F. G. Kaspar, IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices 25, 102 (1978).https://doi.org/IETDAI
10. J. A. Weldy, Proc. SPIE 1071, 300 (1989).https://doi.org/PSISDG
11. K. A. Parulski, L. J. D’Luna, B. L. Benemati, P. R. Shelley, J. Electron. Imaging 1, 35 (1992).https://doi.org/JEIME5
12. J. K. Wallace, Commun. Assoc. Comput. Machinery 34, 30 (1991).
13. T. H. Lee, R. P. Khosla, B. C. Burkey, W.‐C. Chang, G. R. Moore, D. L. Losee, K. Y. Wong, in Proc. Int. Sym. on VLSI Technology, Systems and Applications, IEEE, New York (1989) p. 41.
M. M. Blouke, D. L. Heidtmann, B. Corrie, M. L. Lust, Proc. SPIE 570, 82 (1985).https://doi.org/PSISDG
14. R. A. Bredthauer, Proc. SPIE 1161, 61 (1989).https://doi.org/PSISDG
15. J. Milch, Proc. SPIE 1242, 66 (1990).https://doi.org/PSISDG
16. J. Kristian, M. M. Blouke, Sci. Am., October 1982, p. 66.
17. R. B. Bilhorn, Proc. SPIE 1448, 74 (1991).https://doi.org/PSISDG
18. T. H. Lee, T. J. Tredwell, B. C. Burkey, C. N. Anagnostopoulos, J. S. Hayward, T. M. Kelly, R. P. Khosla, D. L. Losee, J. P. Lavine, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 29, 1469 (1982).https://doi.org/IETDAI
19. T. A. Jackson, C. S. Bell, Proc. SPIE 1448, 2 (1991).https://doi.org/PSISDG
20. R. Lees et al., Soc. Motion Picture Television Eng. J. 99, 837 (1990).

More about the authors

Rajinder P. Khosla, Microelectronics Technology Division of Eastman Kodak's Electronic Imaging Platform Center, Rochester, New York.