An all-reflective computed tomography imaging spectrometer

The computed tomographic imaging spectrometer (CTIS) is a passive non-scanning instrument which simultaneously records a scenes spectral content as well as its 2-D spatial. Simultaneously implies a time frame limited only by the frame rate and signal-to-noise of the imaging device. CTIS accomplishes this by feeding incident scene radiation through a computer generated hologram (CGH) in Fourier space. The resulting dispersion pattern is recorded on a conventional pixilated imager and is stored on a local computer for post processing using iterative reconstruction techniques. A virtual 3-D datacube is constructed with one dimension in terms of energy weights for each wavelength band. CTIS is ideal for observing rapidly varying targets and has found use in military, bio-medical and astronomical applications. For the first time we have built an entirely reflective design based on the popular Offner reflector using a computer generated hologram formed on a convex mirror surface. Furthermore, a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) has been uniquely incorporated as a dynamic field stop for smart scene selection. Both the MEMS and reflective design are discussed. The CTIS multiplexes spatial and spectral information, so the two quantities are interdependent and adjustments must be made to the design in order to allow adequate sampling for our given application. Optical aberrations arising from a tilted image plane are alleviated through design optimization.

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