Method for simultaneously measuring the spectral intensity as a function of wavelength of all the pixels of a two dimensional scene

An apparatus for simultaneously measuring the spectral intensity as a function of wavelength of all the pixels of a two-dimensional scene while detecting a real and stationary image of said scene, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) an interferometer system for receiving collected incident collimated light simultaneously from all points of the two-dimensional scene, said light being first split into two coherent beams which travel in different directions inside said interferometer and then said two coherent beams recombine to interfere with each other to form an exiting light, said interferometer system having a number of elements, said element being rotatable so that an optical path difference between said two coherent beams generated by said interferometer system is scanned simultaneously for all said pixels of the scene;
• (b) a focusing optical system through which said exiting light is passed to form a focused light;
• (c) a detector having a two-dimensional array of detector elements on which said focused light is directed, so that at each instant each of said detector elements is the image of one and always the same pixel of said scene for the entire duration of the measurement, so that the real image of the scene is stationary on the plane of the detector array and so that each of said detector elements produces a signal which is a particular linear combination of light intensity emitted by said pixel at different wavelengths, wherein said linear combination is a function of the instantaneous optical path difference;
• and
• (d) recording mechanism for receiving said signals of each of said detector elements as function of time using a recording device.

A method for simultaneously measuring the spectral intensity as a function of wavelength of all the pixels of a two-dimensional scene located at infinity while detecting a real and stationary image of said scene, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) collecting naturally collimated incident light simultaneously from all points of the two-dimensional scene;
• (b) passing said incident naturally collimated light through an interferometer system having a number of elements, so that said light is first split into two coherent beams which travel in different directions inside said interferometer and then said two coherent beams recombine to interfere with each other to form an exiting light;
• (c) passing said exiting light through a focusing optical system which focuses said exiting light on a detector having a two-dimensional array of detector elements, so that at each instant each of said detector elements is the image of one and always the same pixel of said scene for the entire duration of the measurement, so that the real image of the scene is stationary on the plane of the detector array at any time during the measurement the image is still visible and recognizable, and so that each of said detector elements produces a signal which is a particular linear combination of light intensity emitted by said pixel at different wavelengths, wherein said linear combination is a function of the instantaneous optical path difference;
• (d) rotating one or more of said elements of said interferometer system, so that said optical path difference between said two coherent beams generated by said interferometer system is scanned simultaneously for all said pixels of the scene;
• and
• (e) recording said signals of each of said detector elements as function of time using a recording device.