Patent ID: 7042567

Claim:
A method of nondestructive analysis of an object selected from the group which consists of paintings and monuments, comprising the steps of: (a) exposing the object to a polychromatic incident light beam including wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet to mid-infrared parts of the spectrum; (b) generating a broad-band image of the object in response to the incident light beam with wavelengths lying within spectral sensitivity limits of ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared detectors and imaging photon energy converters used for image capture; (c) generating a plurality of narrow-band images corresponding to the broad-band image and comprised of the intensities of said broad-band image captured in respective narrow wavelength bands shorter than sensitivity spectral ranges of respective detectors; (d) for a multiplicity of object material models, obtaining light intensities under the same illumination and imaging conditions as used for the object at the same narrow wavelength bands; and (e) comparing for any spatial location of an examined area of the object onto which said incident light beam is directed, light intensities expressed by the materials constituting the object in said narrow wavelength bands with the light intensities expressed by the object material models in the same narrow wavelength bands under the same illumination and imaging conditions to determine and map the compositional characteristics of the material used to create the object.