MERTIS: geometrical calibration of thermal infrared optical system by applying diffractive optical elements

Abstract

Geometrical sensor calibration is essential for space applications based on high accuracy optical measurements, in this case for the thermal infrared push-broom imaging spectrometer MERTIS. The goal is the determination of the interior sensor orientation. A conventional method is to measure the line of sight for a subset of pixels by single pixel illumination with collimated light. To adjust angles, which define the line of sight of a pixel, a manipulator construction is used. A new method for geometrical sensor calibration is using Diffractive Optical Elements (DOE) in connection with laser beam equipment. Diffractive optical elements (DOE) are optical microstructures, which are used to split an incoming laser beam with a dedicated wavelength into a number of beams with well-known propagation directions. As the virtual sources of the diffracted beams are points at infinity, the resulting image is invariant against translation. This particular characteristic allows a complete geometrical sensor calibration with only one taken image avoiding complex adjustment procedures, resulting in a significant reduction of calibration effort. We present a new method for geometrical calibration of a thermal infrared optical system, including an thermal infrared test optics and the MERTIS spectrometer bolometer detector. The fundamentals of this new approach for geometrical infrared optical systems calibration by applying diffractive optical elements and the test equipment are shown.