<title>THRIFTI: tomographic hyperspectral remote imaging Fourier transform interferometer</title>

Abstract

Hyperspectral imaging spectrometers (HSIs) utilizing Sagnac interferometer are throughput-limited if a slit is employed in their designs. This paper describes the Tomographic Hyperspectral Remote Imaging Fourier Transform Interferometer (THRIFTI) optical design. THRIFTI is capable of producing spectral autocorrelation fringe modulation over an image plane defined by a two-dimensional CCD array without the throughput disadvantage encountered by the Sagnac-based imaging spectrometers that incorporate a slit. This approach is utilized to recapture the full spatial-spectral characteristics of an image hypercube via tomography or linear deconvolution. In addition to its large throughput, THRIFTI is robust and simple to construct. The optical design of THRIFTI is discussed and the first experimental results are presented.