In optics and signal processing, wavefront coding refers to the use of a phase modulating element in conjunction with deconvolution to extend the depth of field of a digital imaging system such as a video camera.
This modulation corresponds to a change in complex argument of the pupil function of such an imaging device, and it can be engineered with different goals in mind: e.g. extending the depth of focus.
Wavefront coding with linear phase masks works by creating an optical transfer function that encodes distance information.
[2] The mask was developed by using the ambiguity function and the stationary phase method The technique was pioneered by radar engineer Edward Dowski and his thesis adviser Thomas Cathey at the University of Colorado in the United States in the 1990s.
[3] Cathey, Dowski and Merc Mercure founded a company to commercialize the method called CDM-Optics, and licensed the invention from the University.