Staring 2-D hadamard transform spectral imager

1. A staring imaging method comprising:

applying a two-dimensional spatial image containing multi-frequency spectral information to a two-dimensional optical encoder;

encoding a x-dimension of spatial information from the two-dimensional spatial image with a cyclic Hadamard S-matrix applied by the two-dimensional optical encoder to form a Hadamard spatially encoded image;

spectrally dispersing in the x-dimension the Hadamard spatially encoded image to form a spatially encoded, spectrally dispersed image;

focussing the spacially encoded, spectrally dispersed image onto a two-dimensional detector to form a detected image;

stepping the two-dimensional optical encoder through a plurality of positions and building an untransformed, spatially encoded, and spectrally dispersed data cube from the detected image collected using each position of the two-dimensional optical encoder;

applying a moving window Hadamard transform to the untransformed, spatially encoded, and spectrally dispersed data cube to deconvolve an encoded spatial dimension; and

forming a hyperspectral data cube containing two spatial and one spectral dimension as a transform of the two-dimensional spatial image.

2. The staring imaging method of claim 1 wherein the two-dimensional optical encoder is a computer-controlled digital micromirror array.

3. The staring imaging method of claim 2 wherein the computer-controlled digital micromirror array is a Texas Instruments DMD™.

4. The staring imagine method of claim 2 wherein the computer-controlled digital micromirror array has pixel width mirrors in the x-direction and mirrors that extend in the y-direction up to the size of the input image.

5. The staring imaging method of claim 1 wherein the two-dimensional optical encoder is a spatial light modulator.

6. A staring imaging method comprising:

inputting a two-dimensional spatial image containing multi-frequency spectral information;

spectrally dispersing the two-dimensional spatial image along an x-dimension;

applying the spectrally dispersed two-dimensional spatial image to a two-dimensional optical encoder;

encoding a spectral dimension of the spectrally dispersed two-dimensional spatial image with a cyclic Hadamard S-matrix applied across the x-dimension of the two-dimensional optical encoder to produce a Hadamard-encoded, spectrally dispersed image;

retaining a spatial x-dimension of the Hadamard-encoded, spectrally dispersed image by de-dispersing the image after optically encoding;

building an untransformed, spectrally encoded data cube from the the Hadamard-encoded, spectrally dispersed image collected for each Hadamard order; and

unencoding the untransformed, spectrally encoded data cube by multiplying a vector at each encodegram pixel by an inverse of the Hadamard cyclic S-matrix to generate a hyperspectral data cube containing two spatial and one spectral dimensions.

7. The staring imaging method of claim 6 wherein, the two-dimensional optical encoder is a digital micromirror array, wherein said array introduces at least one linear axial chromatic aberrations into the spectrally dispersed two-dimensional spatiall image; and

the step of de-dispersing is performed by a grating utilizing a Scheimpflug Condition to correct for the linear axial chromatic aberration by including a power term in the grating to correct for a spectral tilt.

8. The staring imaging method of claim 7 wherein the digital micromirror array is a Texas Instruments DMD™.

9. The staring imagine method of claim 7 wherein the digital micromirror array has pixel width mirrors in the x-direction and mirrors in the y-direction that extend up to the size of the input image.

10. A staring two-dimensional imager comprising:

a two-dimensional spatial input image;

a first optical path for applying the input image to a first diffraction grating, wherein the image is spectrally dispersed;

a second optical path for applying the dispersed image to a two-dimensional digital mirror array;

a computer for controlling said mirror array to encode the spectrally dispersed image with a cycle S-mask Hardamard transform;

a third optical path for applying the transformed image from said array to a second diffraction grating, the diffraction of said second grating canceling the dispersion of said first grating;

a fourth optical path for applying the transformed image from said second diffraction grating to a two-dimensional detector; wherein said computer is connected to said detector for converting said image into data representative of two spatial and one spectral dimension.

11. The imager of claim 10 wherein said encoder is a digital mirror array that introduces spectral tilt into the dispersed image, and wherein said second diffractive grating further includes a power term to compensate for said spectral tilt.

12. The imager of claim 11 wherein said digital mirror array is a DMD™.