Midwave-infrared snapshot imaging spectrometer

We report results from a demonstration of a midwave-infrared, nonscanning, high-speed imaging spectrometer capable of simultaneously recording spatial and spectral data from a rapidly varying target scene. We demonstrated hig h-speed spectral imaging by collecting spectral and spatial snapshots of bl ackbody targets and combustion products. The instrument is based on compute d tomography concepts and operates in a midwave-infrared band of 3.0-5.0 mu m. We record raw images at a frame rate of 60 frames/s, using a 512 X 512 I nSb focal-plane array. Reconstructed object cube estimates were sampled at 46 X 46 X 21 (x, y, lambda) elements, or 0.1-mum spectral sampling. Reconst ructions of several objects are presented. (C) 2001 Optical Society of Amer ica.