AOTF-Based Spectral Imaging for Balloon-Borne Platforms

Abstract

A balloon-borne Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) hyperspectral imager is ideally suited to address numerous outstanding questions in planetary science. The spectral agility, narrowband wavelength selection, tolerance to the near-space environment, and spectral coverage afforded by AOTFs would enable investigations not feasible from ground-based facilities. Example use cases include synoptic observations of clouds on Venus and the giant planets, studies of molecular emissions from cometary comae, the mapping of hydrocarbon ices on the surfaces of Triton, and polarimetry. A notional AOTF imager design includes both visible and near-infrared channels to take full advantage of the spectral coverage of an AOTF. Although technical challenges such as detector cooling would require further performance modeling, an AOTF hyperspectral imager is a logical choice for planetary science investigations from a balloon platform and would constitute a logical next step in the demonstration of AOTFs as a enabling technology for planetary flight projects.

Mueller-Matrix Stress Mapping in TeO2 Crystals Under Dynamic Loading

“…The testing machine provides the controlled uniaxial compression of a crystalline specimen installed between press plates with a specialized floating hinge. To demonstrate feasibility of the proposed technique we chose an anisotropic material widely utilized in spectral imaging devices and laser instrumentation [8][9][10][11][12], tetragonal form of tellurium dioxide α-TeO2. Layout of the experimental setup is shown in figure 1.…”

The Development and Demonstration of the Portable Acousto‐Optic Spectrometer for Astrobiology in Cave Environments

“…A detailed description of the operating principles of AOTFs is beyond the scope of this paper, but extensive discussions of their operational capabilities are provided in N. J. Chanover et al. ( 2014 ), O. I. Korablev et al. ( 2018 ) and the references therein.…”

Spectral Imaging Experiments with Various Optical Schemes Based on the Same AOTF

“…AOTFs have become a popular tool for various hyperspectral imaging applications in biomedicine [ 1 , 2 ], agriculture [ 3 , 4 ], aerospace [ 5 , 6 ] and other fields. Based on anisotropic Bragg diffraction of wide-band light by ultrasound in crystalline media, these spectral elements provide a good combination of optical (high spectral and spatial resolution, wide tuning range, etc.)…”