Adaptive imaging spectrometer in a time-domain filtering architecture

We demonstrate an imaging spectrometer with 30 nm resolution that utilizes a novel time-domain filtering architecture. The architecture is based on a pixel by pixel integration of the interferogram signal mixed with reference waveforms. The system can be adapted in real time to discriminate between LED sources of different wavelengths, perform signal processing on the spectra, as well as discriminate between highly overlapping, broadband spectral features in a scene illuminated by a tungsten lamp. Unlike a conventional spectral signature discrimination system, which needs a dedicated computation subsystem running a discrimination algorithm, the time-domain filtering architecture embeds much of the computation in the filtering, which will aid the design of integrated miniaturized spectral signature discrimination systems. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.