System and methods for providing a uniform and tunable hyper-spectral source

A method of generating an illumination output signal using an illumination optical system, the method comprising:

• illuminating a dispersive optical element with illumination light from an illumination source to generate an angularly dispersed optical signal from the illumination light;
• generating a spectral image from the angularly dispersed optical signal using a focusing optical system;
• determining a configuration for a digital micro-mirror device (DMD) based on a desired spectral power distribution for an illumination output signal, wherein the configuration for the DMD comprises an activated subset of an array of reflective elements of the DMD;
• and
• directing a portion of the spectral image into an entrance port of an integrating optical sphere using the activated subset of the reflective elements of the DMD to generate the illumination output signal.

The method of 14, wherein the determining the configuration for the DMD comprises:

• measuring or predicting a first illumination output signal using a first activated subset of reflective elements of the DMD using a spectrometer;
• predicting a plurality of spectral contributions of a plurality of changes in the first activated subset based on the calibration model;
• and
• determining a subset of the plurality of spectral contributions that, when added to the first illumination output signal, results in the desired spectral power distribution;
• and
• updating the first activated subset of reflective elements to incorporate the changes in the first activated subset associated with the subset of the plurality of spectral contributions.

A method of generating an illumination output signal of an illumination system, the method comprising:

• illuminating a dispersive optical element with illumination light from an illumination source to generate an angularly dispersed optical signal from the illumination light;
• generating a spectral image from the angularly dispersed optical signal using a focusing optical system;
• directing a portion of the spectral image into an entrance port of an integrating sphere using an activated subset of the reflective elements of the DMD to generate an illumination output signal;
• measuring the illumination output signal with a monitoring sensor to generate a measurement signal;
• comparing the measurement signal to a historical measurement signal for the activated subset of reflective elements of the DMD;
• and
• updating the activated subset of the reflective elements of the DMD based on the comparison.