A 3.5 to 12 Micron "Dualband" Spectrometer for Generic UAVs

TL;DRAbstract

A new approach is described for obtaining spectral imagery over a broad range of infrared wavelengths, with high efficiency, and with a single grating element and focal plane array. The approach represents a simplification and mass reduction over the traditional approach involving multiple focal plane arrays, dispersing elements, and optical beamsplitters. The new approach has significant advantages for space-based and airborne hyperspectral imagers operating in the infrared over a broad range of wavelengths (e.g., MWIR & LWIR), where the reduction in cryo-cooled mass relative to the multi-channel approach translates into noteworthy savings in volume and cryo-cooling requirements. Overlapping grating orders are focused onto a multi-waveband focal plane array in order to create spectral images of a scene simultaneously in multiple wavelength regions. The blaze of the grating is chosen so that all spectral orders are dispersed with high grating efficiency. Such an approach extends th

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