High-SNR static Fourier-transform imaging spectrometer based on differential structure

Fourier-transform imaging spectrometers are rapidly developed due to their extensive use in industrial monitoring, target detection, and chemical identification. Static Fourier-transform imaging spectrometer (SFIS) containing a birefringent interferometer is one of the most popular directions due to its inherent robustness. However, the SFIS suffers from its low achievable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) because of the restriction of incident angle. Meanwhile, in applications, the SNR is perhaps the most important factor to determine the usefulness of an instrument. In this paper, we report here a Static Fourier-transform imaging spectrometer based on differential structure (SFIS-DS) in the 400-800nm wavelength range with a high SNR. As in electronic system, the differential structure can double optical efficiency and strongly restrain common mode error in the SFIS-DS. And the differential structure described here is also available for any instruments containing a birefringent interferometer. However, the drawback of the SFIS-DS is that the two images obtained by the two differential channels need precise registration which can be overcome by a sub-pixel spatial registration algorithm. The experimental results indicate the SFIS-DS can increase the SNR by no less than 40%.