A hyperspectral camera for conservation science, based on a birefringent ultrastable common path interferometer

We propose and experimentally validate a new hyperspectral camera based on the Fourier-transform approach. Two delayed replicas of the optical field entering an imaging system are produced by the Translating-Wedge-Based Identical Pulses eNcoding System (TWINS).1 This device is a common-path birefringent interferometer that combines compactness, high delay precision, long-term stability and insensitivity to vibrations. The TWINS scans the phase delay between the two replicates along many optical cycles. The replicas produce, upon recombination, a high contrast interferogram in each pixel of the detector. An appropriate Fourier transformation of the dataset produces spectrally resolved images that exhibit high contrast and spatial resolution only limited by the lens and the sensor. The main features of the system in terms of spectral resolution, contrast and bandwidth will be presented. Examples of application in conservation science will be also reported.