Enhanced optical readout scheme for a thermal imager employing a reconfigurable spatial light modulator

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a reconfigurable spatial light modulator configured to spatially modulate an incident wavefront responsive to an image formed on said modulator by a first light source;

a second light source configured to direct a coherent illumination light beam towards said modulator such that said modulator produces a modulated outgoing light beam therefrom; and

a filter configured to spatially filter a light pattern formed by said outgoing light beam on a plane to selectively transmit light from a plurality of diffraction peaks therein.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein said filter attenuates light of a first of said diffraction peaks with a first attenuation factor and light of a different second of said diffraction peaks with a different second attenuation factor.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2 , wherein said first diffraction peak has a first wavelength and said second diffraction peak has a second different wavelength.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein said reconfigurable spatial light modulator comprises an array of pixel mirrors over a substrate surface, and said image is formed on a surface of said substrate opposite said array.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4 , wherein said substrate has an optical pass band ranging in wavelength from about 1.5 μm to about 6 μm.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein said first light source emits infrared light, and said second light source emits visible light.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a reconfigurable spatial light modulator configured to spatially modulate an incident wavefront responsive to an image from a first light source formed on said modulator;

a second light source configured to produce light including a first wavelength and a different second wavelength and to direct said produced light towards said reconfigurable spatial light modulator such that said modulator produces a modulated outgoing light beam therefrom; and

a filter configured to spatially filter a light pattern formed by said outgoing light beam along a plane to selectively transmit light from a plurality of diffraction peaks of said pattern such that light of said first wavelength is transmitted by a first of said diffraction peaks with a first attenuation and light of said different second wavelength is transmitted by a second of said diffraction peaks with a second attenuation.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said first attenuation is different from said second attenuation.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said apparatus is configured such that said first diffraction peak and said second diffraction peak are passed by a single aperture of said filter.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said apparatus is configured such that said first diffraction peak is passed by a first aperture of said spatial filter, and said second diffraction peak is passed by a different second aperture of said filter.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein a state of said modulator is responsive to an intensity of infrared light in a wavelength range from about 3 μm to about 5.5 μm.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said optical source produces light of a first wavelength in a range of about 620 nm to about 750 nm, light of a second wavelength in a range of about 495 nm to about 570 nm, and light of a third wavelength in a range of about 450 nm to about 495 nm.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said apparatus is configured to produce a false color image in response to said modulating.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein said first light source emits infrared light, and said second light source emits visible light.

15. A method, comprising:

producing a laterally modulated outgoing light beam by spatially modulating wavefronts of an incident coherent light beam to carry a representation of an infrared light image;

focusing said outgoing light beam to form a diffractive light pattern having diffraction peaks; and

spatially filtering said diffractive light pattern to selectively transmit a first diffraction peak and a second diffraction peak.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 , further comprising attenuating said first diffraction peak by a first attenuation factor and attenuating said second diffraction peak by a different second attenuation factor.

17. The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein said first diffraction peak comprises light at a first wavelength and said second diffraction peak comprises light at a different second wavelength.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein said first diffraction peak and said second diffraction peak are passed by a same aperture.

19. The method as recited in claim 15 , further comprising transmitting said infrared light image through a substrate of a reconfigurable spatial light modulator.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving an infrared light image and producing a laterally modulated outgoing light beam by spatially modulating wavefronts of an incident plurality of coherent light beams to carry a representation of said image, said coherent light beams having different wavelengths;

focusing said outgoing light beam to form a first diffractive light pattern of said modulated wavefront associated with a first frequency and a second diffractive light pattern of said modulated wavefront associated with a second frequency; and

spatially filtering said first and second diffractive light patterns to selectively transmit a plurality of diffraction peaks including a first diffraction peak with said first wavelength and a second diffraction peak with said second wavelength.

21. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein said spatial filtering passes said first diffraction peak with a first aperture, and passes said second diffraction peak with a different second aperture.

22. The method as recited in claim 21 , wherein said first aperture has a different attenuation factor than said second aperture.

23. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein said receiving includes transmitting said image through a silicon layer.

24. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein said plurality of coherent light beams includes light of a first wavelength in a range of about 620 nm to about 750 nm, light of a second wavelength in a range of about 495 nm to about 570 nm, and light of a third wavelength in a range of about 450 nm to about 495 nm.

25. The method as recited in claim 20 , further comprising forming a visible false color image from said spatially filtered first and second diffractive light patterns.