Static Fourier transform hyperspectral imaging polarimeter

Abstract

Hyperspectral imaging technique has been widely used in remote sensing, surveillance in agriculture, environmental monitoring, etc. However, spectral information alone cannot well discriminate objects made with the same material. Conventional methods either fuse complementary information from other sensors or mine relevant information from the original hyperspectral data to improve the recognition rations. It may increase the cost and reduce the efficiency. In this paper, we propose an easier alternative approach: we present the prototype of a compact static Fourier transform hyperspectral imaging polarimeter, which couples hyperspectraland polarization imaging in a unified instrument and allows better material discrimination. The instrument, which is formed by cascading two crystal retarders and a birefringent interferometer, offers significant advantages over traditional implementations. Specifically, without any internal moving parts or electronics controllable elements, the spectrum, full wavelength dependent polarization and spatial information of a scene can be acquired simultaneously. Principles and experimental results in a case study are encouraging.