Three-area-array coherent-dispersion stereo-imaging spectrometer

A coherent-dispersion stereo-imaging spectrometer is presented, which combines three-view stereo imaging, interferometric spectroscopy and dispersive spectroscopy. Three area-array detectors record three spectral images of each scene unit from three views. For each of the three views, each scene unit is imaged on a given column of one area-array detector, and different wavelengths are dispersed across different rows of that column. For each scene unit, multiple interferograms are simultaneously generated at each view, each interferogram covering a separate wavelength range and located in a separate pixel. The orthographic view image is used to create a two-dimensional orthophoto image. The front view and back view images are used to reconstruct the three-dimensional stereoscopic image. Preliminary theoretical calculations are given. The instrument is a unique concept to obtain three-dimensional spatial information and one-dimensional spectral information while achieving high spectral resolution measurement of an ultraviolet-visible broadband spectral range (e.g., 0.05 nm at 450 nm together with 0.1 nm at 700 nm). It will be suitable for ultraviolet-visible hyperspectral remote sensing.