Time-multiplexed broadband and multi-filtered electro-optic sensor

摘要

An EO sensor is configured to time multiplex a primary optical channel that provides high detection sensitivity to maintain high SNR and a multi-filtered optical channel that provides detection in different measurement bands (e.g. spectral, polarization, amplitude or phase). The channels may, for example, be time multiplexed based on range to target or within each integration period of the EO sensor. The multi-filtered optical channel uses a field directing array to sample the FOV to form different optical sub-channels that are filtered by different optical filters. These sub-channels may be spatially multiplexed onto different sub-regions of the detector or may be time multiplexed onto the entire detector. The light modulator used to time multiplex the primary and multi-filtered optical channels may be used to time de-multiplex spatially overlapping regions of the FOV onto a pixel of the detector in order to detect high spatial resolution images with low resolution detectors.

主权项

1. An electro-optic (EO) sensor, comprising
an objective optical system that forms an image within a field of view (FOV) from incident optical radiation; a light modulator configured to alternately direct the incident optical radiation in the FOV to a primary optical channel and to a multi-filtered optical channel to time multiplex the FOV; said primary optical channel comprising a relay optic configured to relay the image of the FOV onto a detector configured to convert optical radiation into a first electrical signal; said multi-filtered optical channel comprising,
a focusing optic configured to collimate the incident optical radiation in the FOV;a field directing having a plurality of tilt cells configured to spatially sample the optical radiation over the FOV, each tilt cell comprising first and second optical tilt elements that tilt the sampled optical radiation by different first and second tilt angles, respectively, to map the sampled FOV to first and second spatially separated optical sub-channels;first and second optical filters positioned in said first and second spatially separated optical sub-channels, respectively, to filter the optical radiation, said first and second optical filters having different measurement bands; andone or more detectors that convert the filtered incident optical radiation in the different measurement bands into a second electrical signal.