Patent ID: 7283232

Claim:
An optical spectrometer comprising: a spatial filter configured to spatially filter incident light; a detector system comprising a two-dimensional detector array operatively connected to a processor; a dispersion system disposed optically between the spatial filter and the detector system, the dispersion system configured to disperse images of the spatial filter in a wavelength dependent fashion onto the detector system; wherein a first set of images corresponding to a first spectral subset of wavelengths are dispersed in a first direction, wherein a second set of images corresponding to a second spectral subset of wavelengths are dispersed in the first direction, and wherein at least one of the images in the first set at least partially overlap, at the detector system, at least one of the images in the second set in a second direction different from the first direction; and wherein the detector system is configured to process detected images to distinguish signals associated with an image in the first set from signals associated with an overlapping image in the second set.