Patent ID: 8717573

Claim:
A tunable interferometric scanning spectrometer, comprising: an optical structure configured to split incoming light beams into first light beams and second light beams that propagate along a first optical path and a second optical path, respectively, wherein the first and second optical paths are different, and to combine the first light beams and the second light beams directed back to the optical structure from the first optical path and the second optical path, respectively, to produce combined light beams; a first dispersive element in the first optical path, the first dispersive element being orientated at an angle; a mirror in the second optical path, the mirror being placed at a position along an axis of the second optical path, wherein the angle of the first dispersive element and the position of the mirror result in a filter function matrix that is invertible, wherein the filter function matrix is derived by calculating a filter function at different field angles and different wavelengths; a sensor array configured to detect intensities of the combined light beams across a focal plane; and a processor configured to calculate a spectra based on the detected intensities from the sensor array and the filter function that is a function of optical path difference (OPD) between the first and second optical paths.