Imaging Spectrometer Trade Studies: A Detailed Comparison of the Offner-Chrisp and Reflective Triplet Optical Design Forms

摘要

High quality imaging spectroscopy data is useful for both military and civilian applications. Current state-of-the-art imaging spectrometers typically rely on the Offner-Chrisp (OC) optical form. Making use of a spherically concentric, axially symmetric, and telecentric design, the OC imaging spectrometer provides excellent spectral-spatial uniformity but with many regrets: (1) no real-entrance pupil, (2) relatively slow optical speeds, (3) required convex diffraction grating, (4) narrow field-of-view, and (5) limited scalability. Recently, the Raytheon patented Reflective Triplet (RT) optical design form has produced extremely large format imaging spectrometers of exceptional quality. The RT optical design provides spectral-spatial uniformity comparable to the OC form, but with a number of advantages: (1) extremely large fields-of-view, (2) faster optical speeds, (3) a real-entrance pupil for optimal cold shielding and calibration, (4) use of either a prism or flat diffraction grating operating in collimated space (with an option for both simultaneously in a 2-channel device), and (5) extremely wide spectral range using common reflective optics and multiple focal plane arrays, dispersive elements, and entrance slits. This paper presents a number of detailed designs exemplifying the differences between the OC and RT forms.