Snapshot Imaging Spectrometer Based on Pixel-Level Filter Array (PFA)

Abstract

Snapshot spectral imaging technology plays an important role in many fields. However, most existing snapshot imaging spectrometers have the shortcomings of a large volume or heavy computational burden. In this paper, we present a novel snapshot imaging spectrometer based on the pixel-level filter array (PFA), which can simultaneously obtain both spectral and spatial information. The system is composed of a fore-optics, a PFA, a relay lens, and a monochromatic sensor. The incoming light first forms an intermediate image on the PFA through the fore-optics. Then, the relay lens reimages the spectral images on the PFA onto the monochromatic sensor. Through the use of the PFA, we can capture a three-dimensional (spatial coordinates and wavelength) datacube in a single exposure. Compared with existing technologies, our system possesses the advantages of a simple implementation, low cost, compact structure, and high energy efficiency by removing stacked dispersive or interferometric elements. Moreover, the characteristic of the direct imaging mode ensures the low computational burden of the system, thus shortening the imaging time. The principle and design of the system are described in detail. An experimental prototype is built and field experiments are carried out to verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

Real-Time Hyperspectral Video Acquisition with Coded Slits

“…Instead of a sophisticated optical design, the prism-mask spectral video imaging system (PMVIS) employs an occluding mask to achieve the controllable sampling of the scene and to realize a higher spatial and spectral resolution [ 7 ]. Recently, pixel-level filters have been developed to directly filter each pixel on the detector to capture spectral images [ 8 ]. Direct imaging spectrometers are able to achieve real-time imaging and video acquisition.…”