An ultracompact hyperspectral imager based on the MACTIS technology

Computed Tomography Imaging Spectrometers (CTIS) capture spatial and spectral information of a scene as compressed 2D measurements. CTIS technology can be used to design imaging devices with extremely small form factors and snapshot imaging capability. In this work, we introduce Multi-Aperture CTIS (MACTIS), an ultrathin snapshot hyperspectral imaging device that measures just 4 mm × 3 mm × 3 mm. It is attached directly on top of a smartphone’s image sensor, allowing easy integration into today’s phones. MACTIS captures spectral information within the visible range of [420 nm, 800 nm] with a spectral resolution of 1 nm and raw spatial image resolution of 500x500 pixels at 1 μm pixel pitch and 28.8° diagonal field of view using the Sony IMX650 image sensor. Compared to a conventional CTIS system the multi-aperture design offers flexibility in balancing the spectral/spatial resolution tradeoff for various application requirements. Paired with our computational reconstruction software, MACTIS can reliably recover hyperspectral images at quasi-real-time performance.