Design of Optical System for Ultra-Large Range Line-Sweep Spectral Confocal Displacement Sensor.

The spectrum confocal displacement sensor is an innovative type of photoelectric sensor. The non-contact advantages of this method include the capacity to obtain highly accurate measurements without inflicting any harm as well as the ability to determine the object's surface contour recovery by reconstructing the measurement data. Consequently, it has been widely used in the field of three-dimensional topographic measuring. The spectral confocal displacement sensor consists of a light source, a dispersive objective, and an imaging spectrometer. The scanning mode can be categorized into point scanning and line scanning. Point scanning is inherently present when the scanning efficiency is low, resulting in a slower measurement speed. Further improvements are necessary in the research on the line-scanning type. It is crucial to expand the measurement range of existing studies to overcome the limitations encountered during the detection process. The objective of this study is to overcome the constraints of the existing line-swept spectral confocal displacement sensor's limited measuring range and lack of theoretical foundation for the entire system. This is accomplished by suggesting an appropriate approach for creating the optical design of the dispersive objective lens in the line-swept spectral confocal displacement sensor. Additionally, prism-grating beam splitting is employed to simulate and analyze the imaging spectrometer's back end. The combination of a prism and a grating eliminates the spectral line bending that occurs in the imaging spectrometer. The results indicate that a complete optical pathway for the line-scanning spectral confocal displacement sensor has been built, achieving an axial resolution of 0.8 µm, a scanning line length of 24 mm, and a dispersion range of 3.9 mm. This sensor significantly expands the range of measurements and fills a previously unaddressed gap in the field of analyzing the current stage of line-scanning spectral confocal displacement sensors. This is a groundbreaking achievement for both the sensor itself and the field it operates in. The line-scanning spectral confocal displacement sensor's design addresses a previously unmet need in systematic analysis by successfully obtaining a wide measuring range. This provides systematic theoretical backing for the advancement of the sensor, which has potential applications in the industrial detection of various ranges and complicated objects.

Spectral Measurements of Muzzle Flash with a Temporally and Spatially Modulated LWIR-Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer.

It is important to obtain information on an instantaneous target. A high-speed camera can capture a picture of an immediate scene, but spectral information about the object cannot be retrieved. Spectrographic analysis is a key tool for identifying chemicals. Detecting dangerous gas quickly can help ensure personal safety. In this paper, a temporally and spatially modulated long-wave infrared (LWIR)-imaging Fourier transform spectrometer was used to realize hyperspectral imaging. The spectral range was 700~1450 cm-1 (7~14.5 µm). The frame rate of infrared imaging was 200 Hz. The muzzle-flash area of guns with calibers of 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, and 14.5 mm were detected. LWIR images of muzzle flash were obtained. Spectral information on muzzle flash was obtained using instantaneous interferograms. The main peak of the spectrum of the muzzle flash appeared at 970 cm-1 (10.31 µm). Two secondary peaks near 930 cm-1 (10.75 µm) and 1030 cm-1 (9.71 µm) were observed. Radiance and brightness temperature were also measured. The spatiotemporal modulation of the LWIR-imaging Fourier transform spectrometer provides a new method for rapid spectral detection. The high-speed identification of hazardous gas leakage can ensure personal safety.

Compressive Sensing Imaging Spectrometer for UV-Vis Stellar Spectroscopy: Instrumental Concept and Performance Analysis.

Compressive sensing (CS) has been proposed as a disruptive approach to developing a novel class of optical instrumentation used in diverse application domains. Thanks to sparsity as an inherent feature of many natural signals, CS allows for the acquisition of the signal in a very compact way, merging acquisition and compression in a single step and, furthermore, offering the capability of using a limited number of detector elements to obtain a reconstructed image with a larger number of pixels. Although the CS paradigm has already been applied in several application domains, from medical diagnostics to microscopy, studies related to space applications are very limited. In this paper, we present and discuss the instrumental concept, optical design, and performances of a CS imaging spectrometer for ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) stellar spectroscopy. The instrument-which is pixel-limited in the entire 300 nm-650 nm spectral range-features spectral sampling that ranges from 2.2 nm@300 nm to 22 nm@650 nm, with a total of 50 samples for each spectrum. For data reconstruction quality, the results showed good performance, measured by several quality metrics chosen from those recommended by CCSDS. The designed instrument can achieve compression ratios of 20 or higher without a significant loss of information. A pros and cons analysis of the CS approach is finally carried out, highlighting main differences with respect to a traditional system.

Design of a Prism-Grating Wide Spectral Range Transmittance Imaging Spectrometer.

As spectroscopic detection technology rapidly advances, back-illuminated InGaAs detectors with a wider spectral range have emerged. Compared to traditional detectors such as HgCdTe, CCD, and CMOS, InGaAs detectors offer a working range of 400-1800 nm and exhibit a quantum efficiency of over 60% in both the visible and near-infrared bands. This is leading to the demand for innovative designs of imaging spectrometers with wider spectral ranges. However, the widening of the spectral range has led to the presence of significant axial chromatic aberration and secondary spectrum in imaging spectrometers. Additionally, there is difficulty in aligning the system optical axis perpendicular to the detector image plane, resulting in increased challenges during post-installation adjustment. Based on chromatic aberration correction theory, this paper presents the design of a wide spectral range transmission prism-grating imaging spectrometer with a working range of 400-1750 nm using Code V. The spectral range of this spectrometer covers both the visible and near-infrared regions, which is beyond the capability of traditional PG spectrometers. In the past, the working spectral range of transmission-type PG imaging spectrometers has been limited to 400-1000 nm. This study's proposed chromatic aberration correction process involves selecting optical glass materials that match the design requirements and correcting the axial chromatic aberration and secondary spectrum, ensuring that the system axis is perpendicular to the detector plane and easy to adjust during installation. The results show that the spectrometer has a spectral resolution of 5 nm, a root-mean-square spot diagram less than 8 µm over the full field of view, and an optical transfer function MTF greater than 0.6 at a Nyquist frequency of 30 lp/mm. The system size is less than 90 mm. Spherical lenses are employed in the system design to reduce manufacturing costs and complexity while meeting the requirements of wide spectral range, miniaturization, and easy installation.

A Low-Cost Hardware/Software Platform for Lossless Real-Time Data Acquisition from Imaging Spectrometers.

In real-time data-intensive applications, achieving real-time data acquisition from sensors and simultaneous storage with the necessary performance is challenging, especially if "no-data-lost" requirements are present. Ad hoc solutions are generally expensive and suffer from a lack of modularity and scalability. In this work, we present a hardware/software platform built using commercial off-the-shelf elements, designed to acquire and store digitized signals captured from imaging spectrometers capable of supporting real-time data acquisition with stringent throughput requirements (sustained rates in the boundaries of 100 MBytes/s) and simultaneous information storage in a lossless fashion. The correct combination of commercial hardware components with a properly configured and optimized multithreaded software application has satisfied the requirements in determinism and capacity for processing and storing large amounts of information in real time, keeping the economic cost of the system low. This real-time data acquisition and storage system has been tested in different conditions and scenarios, being able to successfully capture 100,000 1 Mpx-sized images generated at a nominal speed of 23.5 MHz (input throughput of 94 Mbytes/s, 4 bytes acquired per pixel) and store the corresponding data (300 GBytes of data, 3 bytes stored per pixel) concurrently without any single byte of information lost or altered. The results indicate that, in terms of throughput and storage capacity, the proposed system delivers similar performance to data acquisition systems based on specialized hardware, but at a lower cost, and provides more flexibility and adaptation to changing requirements.

Detection and Analysis of Microplastics in Human Sputum.

Microplastic pollution is an emerging environmental problem, and little research has focused on its impact on the human body. Based on retrospective case series, the study required participants to fill out a questionnaire and provide sputum samples in order to investigate the presence of microplastics in human sputum and determine whether humans involuntarily inhale them. A total of 22 patients suffering from different respiratory diseases were recruited. We used an Agilent 8700 laser infrared imaging spectrometer and Fourier-transform infrared microscope to analyze sputum samples and evaluate microplastics in the respiratory tract. Remarkably, the size range of the method for detecting microplastics in our study is 20-500 µm. The results showed that 21 types of microplastics were identified, and polyurethane was dominant, followed by polyester, chlorinated polyethylene, and alkyd varnish, accounting for 78.36% of the total microplastics. Most of the aspirated microplastics detected are smaller than 500 µm in size (median: 75.43 µm; interquartile range: 44.67-210.64 µm). Microplastics are ubiquitous in all sputum, indicating that inhalation is a potential way for plastics to enter the human body. Additionally, the quantities of microplastic types in the respiratory tract are related to smoking, invasive examination, etc. (P < 0.05). This study sheds new light on microplastic exposure, which provides basic data for the risk assessment of microplastics to human health.

Optical Design of Imaging Spectrometer Based on Linear Variable Filter for Nighttime Light Remote Sensing.

Nighttime light remote sensing has unique advantages on reflecting human activities, and thus has been used in many fields including estimating population and GDP, analyzing light pollution and monitoring disasters and conflict. However, the existing nighttime light remote sensors have many limitations because they are subject to one or more shortcomings such as coarse spatial resolution, restricted swath width and lack of multi-spectral data. Therefore, we propose an optical system of imaging spectrometer based on linear variable filter. The imaging principle, optical specifications, optical design, imaging performance analysis and tolerance analysis are illustrated. The optical system with a focal length of 100 mm, F-number 4 and 43° field of view in the spectrum range of 400-1000 nm is presented, and excellent image quality is achieved. The system can obtain the multi-spectral images of eight bands with a spatial resolution of 21.5 m and a swath width of 320 km at the altitude of 500 km. Compared with the existing nighttime light remote sensors, our system possesses the advantages of high spatial and high spectral resolution, wide spectrum band and wide swath width simultaneously, greatly making up for the shortage of the present systems. The result of tolerance analysis shows our system satisfy the requirements of fabrication and alignment.

The Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer (SIFIS) Onboard the First Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite (TECIS-1): Specifications and Prospects.

The global monitoring of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) using satellite-based observations provides a new way of monitoring the status of terrestrial vegetation photosynthesis on a global scale. Several global SIF products that make use of atmospheric satellite data have been successfully developed in recent decades. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite (TECIS-1), the first Chinese terrestrial ecosystem carbon inventory satellite, which is due to be launched in 2021, will carry an imaging spectrometer specifically designed for SIF monitoring. Here, we use an extensive set of simulated data derived from the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission 5 (MODTRAN 5) and Soil Canopy Observation Photosynthesis and Energy (SCOPE) models to evaluate and optimize the specifications of the SIF Imaging Spectrometer (SIFIS) onboard TECIS for accurate SIF retrievals. The wide spectral range of 670-780 nm was recommended to obtain the SIF at both the red and far-red bands. The results illustrate that the combination of a spectral resolution (SR) of 0.1 nm and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 127 performs better than an SR of 0.3 nm and SNR of 322 or an SR of 0.5 nm and SNR of 472 nm. The resulting SIF retrievals have a root-mean-squared (RMS) diff* value of 0.15 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the far-red band and 0.43 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the red band. This compares with 0.20 and 0.26 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the far-red band and 0.62 and 1.30 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the red band for the other two configurations described above. Given an SR of 0.3 nm, the increase in the SNR can also improve the SIF retrieval at both bands. If the SNR is improved to 450, the RMS diff* will be 0.17 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the far-red band and 0.47 mW m-2 sr-1 nm-1 at the red band. Therefore, the SIFIS onboard TECIS-1 will provide another set of observations dedicated to monitoring SIF at the global scale, which will benefit investigations of terrestrial vegetation photosynthesis from space.

Spatial Distortion Assessments of a Low-Cost Laboratory and Field Hyperspectral Imaging System.

This article describes the adaptation of an existing aerial hyperspectral imaging system in a low-cost setup for collecting hyperspectral data in laboratory and field environment and spatial distortion assessments. The imaging spectrometer system consists of an ImSpector V9 hyperspectral pushbroom scanner, PixelFly high performance digital CCD camera, and a subsystem for navigation, position determination and orientation of the system in space, a sensor bracket and control system. The main objective of the paper is to present the system, with all its limitations, and a spatial calibration method. The results of spatial calibration and calculation of modulation transfer function (MTF) are reported along with examples of images collected and potential uses in agronomy. The distortion value rises drastically at the edges of the image in the near-infrared segment, while the results of MTF calculation showed that the image sharpness was equal for the bands from the visible part of the spectrum, and approached Nyquist's theory of digitalization. In the near-infrared part of the spectrum, the MTF values showed a less sharp decrease in comparison with the visible part. Preliminary image acquisition indicates that this hyperspectral system has potential in agronomic applications.

Geometric Aberration Theory of Offner Imaging Spectrometers.

A third-order aberration theory has been developed for the Offner imaging spectrometer comprising an extended source; two concave mirrors; a convex diffraction grating; and an image plane. Analytic formulas of the spot diagram are derived for tracing rays through the system based on Fermat's principle. The proposed theory can be used to discuss in detail individual aberrations of the system such as coma, spherical aberration and astigmatism, and distortion together with the focal conditions. It has been critically evaluated as well in a comparison with exact ray tracing constructed using the commercial software ZEMAX. In regard to the analytic formulas, the results show a high degree of practicality.

SWIR AOTF Imaging Spectrometer Based on Single-pixel Imaging.

An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is a new type of mono-wavelength generator, and an AOTF imaging spectrometer can obtain spectral images of interest. However, due to the limitation of AOTF aperture and acceptance angle, the light passing through the AOTF imaging spectrometer is weak, especially in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region. In weak light conditions, the noise of a non-deep cooling mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector is high compared to the camera response. Thus, effective spectral images cannot be obtained. In this study, the single-pixel imaging (SPI) technique was applied to the AOTF imaging spectrometer, which can obtain spectral images due to the short-focus lens that collects light into a small area. In our experiment, we proved that the irradiance of a short-focus system is much higher than that of a long-focus system in relation to the AOTF imaging spectrometer. Then, an SPI experimental setup was built to obtain spectral images in which traditional systems cannot obtain. This work provides an efficient way to detect spectral images from 1000 to 2200 nm.

Experimental Demonstration of Remote and Compact Imaging Spectrometer Based on Mobile Devices.

Imaging spectrometers show great potential for environmental and biomedical sensing applications. Selfie sticks, which are tools used to take photographs or videos, have gained global popularity in recent years. Few people have connected these two objects, and few people have researched the application of imaging spectrometers to perform scientific monitoring in point-of-use scenarios. In this paper, we develop a compact imaging spectrometer (35 g in weight, 18 mm in diameter, and 72 mm in length) that can be equipped on a motorized selfie stick to perform remote sensing. We applied this system to perform environmental and facial remote sensing via motorized scanning. The absorption of chlorophyll and hemoglobin can be found in the reflectance spectra, indicating that our system can be used in urban greening monitoring and point-of-care testing. In addition, this compact imaging spectrometer was also easily attached to an underwater dome port and a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle to perform underwater and airborne spectral detection. Our system offers a route toward mobile imaging spectrometers used in daily life.

Direct Reflectance Measurements from Drones: Sensor Absolute Radiometric Calibration and System Tests for Forest Reflectance Characterization.

Drone-based remote sensing has evolved rapidly in recent years. Miniaturized hyperspectral imaging sensors are becoming more common as they provide more abundant information of the object compared to traditional cameras. Reflectance is a physically defined object property and therefore often preferred output of the remote sensing data capture to be used in the further processes. Absolute calibration of the sensor provides a possibility for physical modelling of the imaging process and enables efficient procedures for reflectance correction. Our objective is to develop a method for direct reflectance measurements for drone-based remote sensing. It is based on an imaging spectrometer and irradiance spectrometer. This approach is highly attractive for many practical applications as it does not require in situ reflectance panels for converting the sensor radiance to ground reflectance factors. We performed SI-traceable spectral and radiance calibration of a tuneable Fabry-Pérot Interferometer -based (FPI) hyperspectral camera at the National Physical Laboratory NPL (Teddington, UK). The camera represents novel technology by collecting 2D format hyperspectral image cubes using time sequential spectral scanning principle. The radiance accuracy of different channels varied between ±4% when evaluated using independent test data, and linearity of the camera response was on average 0.9994. The spectral response calibration showed side peaks on several channels that were due to the multiple orders of interference of the FPI. The drone-based direct reflectance measurement system showed promising results with imagery collected over Wytham Forest (Oxford, UK).

High Resolution and Fast Processing of Spectral Reconstruction in Fourier Transform Imaging Spectroscopy.

High-resolution spectrum estimation has continually attracted great attention in spectrum reconstruction based on Fourier transform imaging spectroscopy (FTIS). In this paper, a parallel solution for interference data processing using high-resolution spectrum estimation is proposed to reconstruct the spectrum in a fast high-resolution way. In batch processing, we use high-performance parallel-computing on the graphics processing unit (GPU) for higher efficiency and lower operation time. In addition, a parallel processing mechanism is designed for our parallel algorithm to obtain higher performance. At the same time, other solving algorithms for the modern spectrum estimation model are introduced for discussion and comparison. We compare traditional high-resolution solving algorithms running on the central processing unit (CPU) and the parallel algorithm on the GPU for processing the interferogram. The experimental results illustrate that runtime is reduced by about 70% using our parallel solution, and the GPU has a great advantage in processing large data and accelerating applications.

Spectral diversity area relationships for assessing biodiversity in a wildland-agriculture matrix.

Species-area relationships have long been used to assess patterns of species diversity across scales. Here, this concept is extended to spectral diversity using hyperspectral data collected by NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) over western Michigan. This mixture of mesic forest and agricultural lands offers two end-points on the local-scale diversity continuum; one set of well-mixed forest patches and one set of highly homogeneous agricultural patches. Using the sum of the first three principal component values and the principal components' convex hull volume, spectral diversity was compared within and among these plots and to null expectations for perfectly random and perfectly patchy landscapes. Overall, the spectral diversity-area relationship confirms the patterns that would be expected for this landscape, but this application suggests that this approach could be extended to less well-understood landscapes and could reveal key insights about the relative importance of different drivers of community assembly, even in the absence of additional data about plant functional traits or species' identities.

Is the petrochemical industry an overlooked critical source of environmental microplastics?

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in the environment and have been verified to be harmful to organisms. The petrochemical industry is a possible contributor, for it is the primary plastic producer but is not focused on. In this background, MPs in the influent, effluent, activated sludge, and expatriate sludge of a typical petrochemical wastewater treatment plant (PWWTP) were identified by the laser infrared imaging spectrometer (LDIR). It revealed that the abundances of MPs in the influent and effluent were as high as 10310 and 1280 items/L with a removal efficiency of 87.6%. The removed MPs accumulated in the sludge, and the MP abundances in activated and expatriate sludge reached 4328 and 10767 items/g, respectively. It is estimated that 1440,000 billion MPs might be released into the environment by the petrochemical industry in 2021 globally. For the specific PWWTP, 25 types of MPs were identified, among which Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE), and Silicone resin were dominant. All of the detected MPs were smaller than 350 µm, and those smaller than 100 µm prevailed. As for the shape, the fragment was dominant. The study confirmed the critical status of the petrochemical industry in releasing MPs for the first time.

The destiny of microplastics in one typical petrochemical wastewater treatment plant.

Microplastic (MP) is a type of emerging contaminant that is verified to be threatening to some organisms. Controlling MP emission from the source is preferred for its refractory characteristic. The petrochemical industry is a possible contributor, responsible for the most plastic production, and wastewater is the most possible sink of MP. This study applied the Agilent 8700 Laser infrared imaging spectrometer (LDIR) to detect MPs in one typical petrochemical wastewater treatment plant (PWWTP). It was determined that the abundances of MPs in the influent and effluent of the target PWWTP were as high as 7706 and 608 particles/L. The primary treatment removed most MPs (87.5 %) with a final removal efficiency of 92.1 %. 23 types of MPs were identified, and Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Silicone resin prevailed in the effluent. All the MPs were smaller than 483.9 µm. All in all, this study preliminarily unveiled the ignorable status of the petrochemical industry in releasing MPs into the water environment for the first time.

Progress in the Preparation and Characterization of Convex Blazed Gratings for Hyper-Spectral Imaging Spectrometer: A Review.

Convex blazed gratings, which can effectively broaden the spectral range and improve spectral resolution, have gradually evolved into a crucial optical component for lightweight and compact imaging spectroscopy instruments. Their design, processing, and testing involve multidisciplinary interdisciplinary scientific issues, and they continue to be a major area of research in imaging optics applications. This paper summarizes the effects of various grating groove shapes and structural parameters on the spectral range and diffraction efficiency of convex blazed gratings, after providing a brief introduction to the typical functions and applications of convex blazed gratings. Firstly, the latest progress in typical processing methods for convex blazed gratings is reviewed. It focuses on the current fabrication processes and reviews their capabilities in creating convex blazed gratings from three main types of technologies, namely ultra-precision machining, high-energy density beam processing, and chemically assisted fabrication processes. Secondly, the adaptability of the manufacturing process for convex blazed gratings on different scales is summarized, analyzing the adaptation of current procedures to various grating fabrication scales and their bottlenecks. Finally, the characterization methods and future feasible characterization methods for convex blazed gratings are reviewed. The development trend of efficient and precise preparation of convex blazed gratings is pointed out.

Laboratory calibration of a field imaging spectrometer system.

A new Field Imaging Spectrometer System (FISS) based on a cooling area CCD was developed. This paper describes the imaging principle, structural design, and main parameters of the FISS sensor. The FISS was spectrally calibrated with a double grating monochromator to determine the center wavelength and FWHM of each band. Calibration results showed that the spectral range of the FISS system is 437-902 nm, the number of channels is 344 and the spectral resolution of each channel is better than 5 nm. An integrating sphere was used to achieve absolute radiometric calibration of the FISS with less than 5% calibration error for each band. There are 215 channels with signal to noise ratios (SNRs) greater than 500 (62.5% of the bands). The results demonstrated that the FISS has achieved high performance that assures the feasibility of its practical use in various fields.

A Light-Sheet-Based Imaaging Spectrometer to Characterize Acridine Orange Fluorescence within Leukocytes.

Low-cost imaging systems that utilize exogenous fluorescent dyes, such as acridine orange (AO), have recently been developed for use as point-of-care (POC) blood analyzers. AO-based fluorescence imaging exploits variations in emission wavelength within different cell types to enumerate and classify leukocyte subpopulations from whole blood specimens. This approach to leukocyte classification relies on accurate and reproducible colorimetric features, which have previously been demonstrated to be highly dependent on the cell staining protocols (such as specific AO concentration, timing, and pH). We have developed a light-sheet-based fluorescence imaging spectrometer, featuring a spectral resolution of 9 nm, with an automated spectral extraction algorithm as an investigative tool to study the spectral features from AO-stained leukocytes. Whole blood specimens were collected from human subjects, stained with AO using POC methods, and leukocyte spectra were acquired on a cell-by-cell basis. The post-processing method involves three steps: image segmentation to isolate individual cells in each spectral image; image quality control to exclude cells with low emission intensity, out-of-focus cells, and cellular debris; and the extraction of spectra for each cell. An increase in AO concentration was determined to contribute to the red-shift in AO-fluorescence, while varied pH values did not cause a change in fluorescence. In relation to the spectra of AO-stained leukocytes, there were corresponding red-shift trends associated with dye accumulation within acidic vesicles and at increasing incubation periods. The system presented here could guide future development of POC systems reliant on AO fluorescence and colorimetric features to identify leukocyte subpopulations in whole blood specimens.