Patent ID: 7391519

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of a target material in a scene by using a multi-aperture interferometer system having a plurality of apertures at least one of which has an adjustable optical path length, the method including: adjusting the at least one aperture having the adjustable optical path length to obtain a predetermined optical path length difference among the plurality of apertures, the predetermined optical path length difference being based on a source laser wavelength of a source laser and a target material wavelength of a target material; illuminating the scene with the source laser; capturing a spectral data set corresponding to an interference pattern generated in the multi-aperture interferometer system for an illuminated point source in the scene, the spectral data set containing spatially distributed spectral data; and determining whether the target material is present at the illuminated point source based on a presence of spectral data in at least one side lobe of the spectral data set.