Compressive circular polarization snapshot spectral imaging

A compressive sensing based circular polarization snapshot spectral imaging system is proposed in this paper to acquire two-dimensional spatial, one-dimensional circular polarization (the right and left circular polarization), and one-dimensional spectral information by one snapshot measurement, simultaneously. The dispersed component combined with a double Amici prism and a Wollaston prism was used to implement the spectral shifting along two orthogonal directions. Theoretically, the spectral resolution could be improved compared with the traditional coded aperture snapshot spectral imager proposed by Brady et al. The right and left circular polarization components are extracted by the assembly with an achromatic quarter wave-plate and a Wollaston prism. The encoding and reconstruction are illustrated comprehensively. The feasibility and fidelity are verified from the aspects of image and spectral reconstruction evaluations. It provides us an alternative approach for circular polarization spectral imaging for the dynamic objects in the fields such as defogging, underwater imaging, insects detection, and so on.