Patent ID: 7944559

Claim:
A hyperspectral imaging system, comprising: a system housing; fore-optics mounted in the housing and including a primary fore-optics mirror, a secondary fore-optics mirror and a tertiary fore-optics mirror each having an associated reflective surface, wherein the mirrors are configured so that electromagnetic radiation or light from a distant object is collected on the reflective surface of the primary mirror and directed toward the reflective surface of the secondary mirror, the secondary mirror directs the light toward the reflective surface of the tertiary mirror, and the tertiary mirror forms an intermediate image corresponding to the object at an entrance side of a spectrometer slit; an imaging spectrometer mounted in the housing and including a primary spectrometer mirror, a secondary spectrometer mirror and a tertiary spectrometer mirror each of which has an associated reflective surface, wherein the primary spectrometer mirror is disposed in operative relation to an exit side of the spectrometer slit, and the secondary spectrometer mirror has an associated diffraction grating; a focal plane array; the primary, the secondary and the tertiary mirrors of the imaging spectrometer are configured so that light from the exit side of the spectrometer slit is received on the reflective surface of the primary spectrometer mirror and directed toward the diffraction grating of the secondary spectrometer mirror, diffracted light from the grating is received on the reflective surface of the tertiary spectrometer mirror, and the tertiary mirror forms a spectral image representing spectral components of the object on the focal plane array; each of the reflective surfaces associated with the mirrors of the fore-optics and the mirrors of the imaging spectrometer is a segment of a solid surface which has a known geometrical axis of symmetry, the axes of symmetry associated with the reflective surfaces of the fore-optics mirrors coincide with one another to define a common geometrical axis of the fore-optics, and the axes of symmetry associated with the reflective surfaces of the imaging spectrometer mirrors coincide to define a common geometrical axis of the imaging spectrometer; and the fore-optics mirrors and the imaging spectrometer mirrors are disposed so that the common geometrical axis of the fore-optics and the common geometrical axis of the imaging spectrometer coincide with one another to define a common system axis for the reflective surfaces of the mirrors in the system.