Abstract:
A multi-slit type spectrometer includes a light diffracter which diffracts an incident light according to wavelengths; an optical shutter array member including a plurality of optical shutter elements arranged in correspondence with wavelength bands diffracted by the light diffracter, operable to transmit an incident ray according to an applied voltage, and made of PLZT. A zone of a given number of adjacent optical shutter elements is applied with a voltage corresponding to the wavelength bands of the rays incident upon the zone of adjacent optical shutter elements at a specified timing so that the rays respectively pass through or are reflected at the optical shutter elements. A signal processor receives the ray which has passed through or has been reflected at each optical shutter element and outputs an electrical signal according to the intensity of the received ray. A calculator calculates the intensity of the incident ray for each wavelength band in accordance with the electrical signal output from the signal processor and the specified applying timing.
Abstract:
A new type of fully-multiplexed imaging device is described for use at wavelengths where efficient focal plane array detectors are unavailable. It shares some properties in common with the familiar technique of cycle-redundancy (i.e. Hadamard transform) imaging, but many of its features and capabilities are unique. Some of these characteristics are, first, the new approach employs image encoding masks that are both transmitting and reflecting, thereby increasing optical efficiency, and second, the technique requires only 2.sqroot.N encoding masks to image a field of N pixels, a dramatically smaller number than that needed (.about.2N) by traditional methods. Dual complementary inputs are used for first-order passive rejection of radiation background interference. The resulting image spatial resolutions along two coordinate directions are completely independent of each other. The measured image is formed by a convergent tiling of the image plane, quite unlike conventional raster scanning. In principle, the technique is capable of versatile adaptation to a wide variety of imaging and target discrimination tasks in infrared and microwave remote sensing, astronomy and surveillance.
Abstract:
A Hadamard mask is placed in the entrance plane of a standard flat field grating spectrograph. A planar array is used as the detector. The Hadamard mask contains 2n-1 elements, where n is the number of elements in the detector array. This configuration produces a spectrograph with a wide aperture and hence high throughput, and allows rapid spectral measurements with no moving parts. It also allows simultaneous measurement of a randomly occurring pulse source.
Abstract:
An improved masking device for optical-type radiations (e.g., infrared visible or ultraviolet) is provided and employed in improved optical apparatus, such as spectrometers, requiring alterable radiation masking. The masking device involves no movable parts, is adapted to operate in a fixed position and has radiation transmission and/or reflection characteristics which are selectively alterable merely by controlling electrical excitation applied to the device. The masking device typically has a plurality of separated and predisposedly offset, coplanar zones of solidified, electrooptically active material carried upon a typically transparent substrate and bounded by areas of an opaque material. The active material may be any of the crystalline or polycrystalline materials which have the property of changing their optical characteristic between being relatively transmissive and being relatively reflective and/or opaque for radiations of the wavelengths of interest, in response to alterations in the magnitude of electrical current passing through the material; for example, diachromic compounds such as vanadium dioxide, certain other transition metal compounds and certain organometallic complex compounds. The masking device can be rapidly altered by electrical control to accommodate computerization techniques and Hadamard transforms or analogous mathematical techniques of spectral analysis.
Abstract:
The present spectrometer features two modulators 11, 11' disposed one on either side of a dispersive member 19 which produces wavelength dependent deflections .alpha. of the various spectral components in the radiation. In other words the precise angle of deflection .alpha. is a function of wavelength. The dispersive element 19 is conveniently positioned between two lenses 26 which form a telecentric system with a magnification of one. The lens system is used to produce an image of the first modulator on the second modulator. Each of the modulators is preferably a grating with a linearly varying grating constant so that the modulators, which move in opposite directions f,f' at constant speed subject the incident radiation to a position dependent modulation. The radiation emerging from the second modulator 11' falls onto a photodetector 13. The arrangement is such that the output signal from the detector 13 contains a number of different frequencies each of which is characteristic of one of the particular spectral components. These frequencies, and thus the information on the individual spectral components can be readily separated using respective band pass filters 17.sub.I, 17.sub.II, 17.sub.III.
Abstract:
A novel system for spectroscopic measurement adaptable in spectrum analysis utilizing a plurality of moire patterns. In order to improve the resolving power of the spectroscopic instrument without any reduction in the intensity of radiant energy to be measured, a pair of grills each having a plurality of narrow slits are disposed at the entrance side and the exit side with respect to a light source. The spectroscopic measurement is performed by discriminating a moire pattern formed by a radiant beam of specific wave length, which is static with respect to the movement of the exit grill, from other moire patterns formed by radiant beams which are dynamic with respect to the movement of the exit grill. In addition, to facilitate the electrical measurement of the intensity of radiant energy, means for giving a pulsating characteristic to a beam of light to be sensed by a photomultiplier tube is provided.
Abstract:
A SPECTOMETER WITH MATCHING ENTRANCE AND EXIT GATES EACH DIVIDED INTO TWO MULTIPLICITIES OF ZONES OF DIFFERENT TRANSMISSIVITY FOR RADIATION TO BE ANALYZED, HAS MEANS FOR ROTATING ONE OF THE GATES ABOUT ITS AXIS TO GENERATE A RAPIDLY VARYING OUTPUT VOLTAGE WITH A FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY RELATED TO THE SPEED OF ROTATION WHENEVER THE RADIANT ENERGY INCLUDES FLUX OF A PREFETERMINED ADJUSTMENT WAVELENGTH, I.E. THAT WAVELENGTH WITH WHICH AN INTERPOSED PRISM OR DIFFRECTION GRATING PRODUCES AN IMAGE OF THE ENTRANCE GATE COINCIDING EXACTLY WITH THE EXIT GATE. EACH OF THESE GATES HAS A CIRCULAR AREA ANGHULARLY SUBDIVIDED INTO AN EVEN NUMBER OF IDENTICAL SECTORS AND RADIALLY SUBDIVIDED BY CONCENTRIC CIRCLES DEFINING TOGETHER WITH THE SECTOR BOUNDARIES A MULTIPLICITY OF ARCUATE ZONES, THESE ZONES BEING ALTERNATELY TRANSPARENT AND OPAQUE OR REFLECTING AND NONREFLECTING FOR THE FLUX TO BE ANALYZED.