US Patent 7433042 Spatially corrected full-cubed hyperspectral imager

A hyperspectral imager that achieves accurate spectral and spatial resolution by using a micro-lens array as a series of field lenses, with each lens distributing a point in the image scene received through an objective lens across an area of a detector array forming a hyperspectral detector super-pixel. Spectral filtering is performed by a spectral filter array positioned at the objective lens so that each sub-pixel within a super-pixel receives light that has been filtered by a bandpass or other type filter and is responsive to a different band of the image spectrum. The micro-lens spatially corrects the focused image point to project the same image scene point onto all sub-pixels within a super-pixel.