A COMPACT, LIGHT-TRANSFER SYSTEM FOR USE IN IMAGE RELAY DEVICES, HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERS AND SPECTROGRAPHS

摘要

The invention provides a light-transfer imager that can be incorporated into a hyperspectral line-scanner, a spectrograph or a non-diffractive image relay device, and more particularly, to a design having a simpler optical design that is easier to fabricate, and has superior imaging quality than most previous designs. The invention includes a generic first optical assembly to deliver incoming light onto a slit or pinhole, a second optical assembly operating as a refractive corrector that directs incoming light onto a curved reflective diffraction grating or curved mirror such that the spectrally dispersed or reflected light (dependent upon the particular embodiment) passes back through the same second optical assembly which focuses that light onto a focal plane array in approximately the same plane as the slit. The slit and the FPA are preferably displaced symmetrically on opposite sides of the optical axis of the refractive corrector.