ACOUSTOOPTIC IR IMAGING SPECTROMETER

AN INNOVATIVE CONCEPT FOR A TUNABLE IMAGING IR SPECTROMETER IS PROPOSED. THE DEVICE WILL CONSIST OF AN ACOUSTOOPTIC TUNABLE FILTER COUPLED TO A TWO-DIMENSIONAL FOCAL PLANE ARRAY DETECTOR. THIS IMAGING SPECTROMETER WILL COMBINE HIGH THROUGHPUT (APPROACHING 100%) WITH THE TUNABILITY AND HIGH RESOLUTION OF A GRATING SPECTROMETER, AND THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING CAPABILITY OF AN INTERFERENCE FILTER. THIS WILL RESULT IN A COMPACT, ALL SOLID-STATE DEVICE WITH MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING CAPABILITY AND WITH HIGH SPATIAL AND SPECTRAL RESOLUTION. THE UNIQUE COMBINATION OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING, WITH HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION AND THROUGHPUT, ELECTRONIC TUNABILITY, ALL SOLID-STATE CONSTRUCTION AND NO MOVING PARTS IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN EXISTING INSTRUMENTS. A DEVICE WITH THESE CHARACTERISTICS WOULD BE IDEALLY SUITED FOR AIRBORNE AND SPACE-BASED MEASUREMENTS OF LOW-SIGNATURE AIRCRAFT AND MISSILES.