A short-wave infrared hyperspectral imager based on stepwise integrated filter

Abstract

Space-borne hyperspectral imager is capable of providing large amount of image data with high spatial and spectral resolution. However, with the increase of the resolution, the volume and weight of conventional dispersive (prism/grating) imaging spectrometers also increase significantly. Meanwhile, the demand for the system sensitivity becomes even higher. In this paper, the application of Integrated Stepwise Filter (ISF) in infrared hyperspectral imaging technology was analyzed, including optical efficiency, instrumental background radiation suppression, spectral time delay integration (TDI) and other performances. Several methods which can enhance the system sensitivity were also provided. A compact short-wave infrared (SWIR) hyperspectral imager prototype covering the spectral range of 2.0μm-2.5μm with 6 TDI stages was designed and implemented. The results of the imaging experiment demonstrated that ISF has great application prospects in the field of high sensitivity space-borne hyperspectral imagery.