Design and Model Verification of an Infrared Chromotomographic Imaging System

A prism chromotomographic hyperspectral imaging sensor is being developed to aid in the study of bomb phenomenology. Reliable chromotomographic reconstruction depends on accurate knowledge of the sensor specific point spread function over all wavelengths of interest. The purpose of this research is to generate the required point spread functions using wave optics techniques and a phase screen model of system aberrations. Phase screens are generated using the Richardson-Lucy algorithm for extracting point spread functions and Gerchberg- Saxton algorithm for phase retrieval. These phase screens are verified by comparing the modeled results of a blackbody source with measurements made using a chromotomographic sensor. The sensor itself is constructed as part of this research. Comparison between the measured and simulated results is based upon the noise statistics of the measured image. Four comparisons between measured and modeled data, each made at a different prism rotation angle, provide the basis for the conclusions of this research. Based on these results, the phase screen technique appears to be valid so long as constraints are placed on the field of view and spectral region over which the screens are applied.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH School of Engineering and Management is the author of 'Design and Model Verification of an Infrared Chromotomographic Imaging System', published 2004 under ISBN 9781423521945 and ISBN 1423521943.