Snapshot spectral sensing apparatus and method using perturbative mosaic element

Abstract

A system and method of instantaneously acquiring a spatio-spectral cube image from a sample material, using a perturbative mosaic array element, configured in correspondence with a photo-detecting pixel array sensor.

Description

[0001] SNAPSHOT SPECTRAL SENSING APPARATUS AND

[0002] METHOD USING PERTURBATIVE MOSAIC

[0003] ELEMENT

[0004] FIELD OF INVENTION

[0005] This invention relates to spectral imaging and in particular relates to snapshot hyperspectral sensing.

[0006] BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0007] Instantaneous acquisition of spectral data, a process integral to technical applications in analysis of both organic and unorganic materials, is a class of optical characterization techniques typically constrained by a number of inherent limitations. These limitations have precluded the use of this class of techniques, alternatively referred to as single snapshot imaging (SSI), from more widespread application in a number of industries.

[0008] Several approaches to accomplishing SSI have been taught in the field, for example the use of spectral filters to produce an image wherein different regions of the image contain very specific spectral ranges of the incoming sample beam, thereby providing an image that captures data specific to a number of specific spectral ranges, from which spectral cube data can be derived. Examples of this technique can be found in US 9,848, 135B2 or US 9,772,229B2, which utilize innovative optical configurations to collect spectral data from a sample beam with an array of filters. More complex filter arrays, such as the repeating mosaic structure taught in US 9,857,222B2, produce a high spectral resolution at the cost of spatial resolution. i In methods utilizing filter arrays, reflection of the majority of light entering the apparatus is inherent to the operation of the system, which generates a fundamental throughput limitation. When either a wider wavelength ranges are concerned, or a better throughput is required, there is a problem due to the longer acquisition times that are needed for sufficient data collection. This inherent limitation of the filter array approach, precludes it from accomplishing SSI in the assessment of very fast moving samples.

[0009] Another approach for achieving SSI relies on interferometry, either Sagnec or Michelson type, wherein an analysis of positive and negative interference can provide spectral cube information without reflecting away any of the sample beam. Examples of these techniques can be taught in EP 957346 and US 5,856,871. Similar to the filter array approach, these techniques suffer from an inherent limitation in their requirement for high longitudinal coherence, without which the data collected would contain an exceptionally high proportion of noise compared to usable signal.

[0010] In US 2007 / 0165223A, a system is taught in which neither of the aforementioned inherent limitations suffered by the interferometric or filter array approaches are encountered. By combining a 2D grating dispersive element with an imaging lens, a collimating lens, and a detector, a computed tomography imaging spectrometer (CTIS) can be realized that, given certain conditions, can spectrally image rapid events with a high level of accuracy. This system can be embodied as a transmissive system, with the essential elements described above, or as a reflective system, wherein two mirrors are combined with the said essential elements in order to operate with UV and IR portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is because the transmissivity of the optical materials required for the operation of the 2D grating dispersive element is too high for said portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, necessitating an Offher mechano-optical configuration, specifically that taught in US 6,522,403B2. Like other forms of CTIS, the image detected is a multiplexed image requiring a particularly challenging form of reconstructive algorithm to convert said multiplexed image into a 3D spatio-spectral cube. The fundamental principle at the heart of the technique taught in US2007 / 0165223A, and indeed of other CTIS techniques, is the diffractive operation of the dispersive element, which produces the multiplexed image from which spatio-spectral cube information can be derived, thereby inherently limiting the resolution of the overall information. CTIS techniques also suffer from a significant computational overhead in deriving the spatio-spectral cube from the multiplexed image, significant calibration complexity and sensitivity to damage and misalignment, and a significant sensitivity to noise and angular ray distribution, as well as the aforementioned limitation in the spectral range accurately detectable. These issues persist in regular CTIS methods, but also in more compact forms, such as the technique in which the multiplexed image appears through macropixels, as taught in US 8,081,244B2.

[0011] There are many systems and methods taught in the art which rely on Fabry-Perot like interferometers, and which have been developed, iterated, modified, and otherwise adjusted, to yield a large number of inventions taught for use in spectral imaging. Regardless of the developments made in the field, all FP filters suffer a number of inherent limitations: restrictions of the wavelength ranges due to the second order phenomenon; overlaps of transmission bands causing significant noise; relatively large band tails; significant peak asymmetry; and a x2 and x3 loss of amplitude on the main wavelength and the band, respectively. These technical problems have inspired a number of inventions in the prior art, none of which have yet to generate a system capable of true SSI. The aforementioned technical problems also limit the development of a general method adaptable for a broad range of applications, because wavelength selection is the most significant limiting factor, which many systems and methods taught in the art undertake for specific applications.

[0012] The large range of systems and methods developed and disclosed that achieve non- instantaneous spectral imaging, do not provide knowledge suitable for combination with or without the knowledge taught in the above publications to realize an effective SSI system and method free from the limitations discussed above. The beam splitters, Fabry-Perot (FP) filters, and voltage sweeps commonly taught in the field, for example in US 10,229,476B2, US 10,101,206, US 10,605,660, US 9,927,299, US 10,012,542, and US 2018 / 0128682A1, cannot achieve SSI without encountering significant inherent drawbacks, nor can topographic techniques utilizing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) such as that taught in US20190226829A1 be effectively adapted to overcome the requirement for high longitudinal coherence.

[0013] There are modifications to the general FP approach that utilize a “stepping” method, referred to as the narrow band filter (NBF) approach that can be used to approximate - if not actually achieve - a single snapshot image. Aside from the fundamental difference between this approach and true SSI, NBF-FP filters encounter significant throughput limitations, restricting practical application. For example, the method taught in US10,036,667 B2 - which relies on a comparison of a number of discrete spectral bands greater than a number of spectral modulations - is critically restricted in its effective throughput, due to the need of inverse problem solution and multi -parameters optimization mechanism, a constraint that precludes effective application in practice. Among the constraints imposed by throughput limitations for NBF systems is the inability to operate fast enough to generate spectral video footage, or immediate resolution of spatio-spectral data for diagnostic purposes.

[0014] In light of these limitations and others of the prior art discussed above, and indeed of other systems, methods, and techniques taught in the art, a need persists for a reliable, accurate, robust, affordable, and highly adaptable system for instantaneous acquisition of a spatio- spectral cube. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, devices and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative and not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above-described problems have been reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed to other advantages or improvements.

[0016] The present invention discloses a system and method of instantaneously acquiring a spatio- spectral cube image from a sample material, using a perturbative mosaic array element, herein referred to as a mosaic array element, configured in correspondence with a photo-detecting pixel array sensor.

[0017] According to a first aspect of the invention, a sensing apparatus for acquiring multiband spatio- spectral data, comprises: (a) a photo-detecting pixel array sensor; (b) a perturbative mosaic array element mounted on substrate able to partially transmit and perturb a sample beam of electro-magnetic (EM) waves reflected or scattered or transmitted from an object(s), wherein each tile dimension of the perturbative mosaic array element correlates to at least one pixel dimension in said photo-detecting pixel array sensor, wherein said mosaic array element is part of said sensor or contiguously positioned between the object(s) from which said waves are received and said sensor and in close proximity to said sensor's plane or in a conjugate plane thereto, and wherein each of the tiles of said mosaic array element has known geometry and material properties which cause a known spectral perturbation to the EM waves in said sample beam to produce a perturbed beam of EM waves which is transmitted to said sensor; and (c) a data processing module in communication with said photo-detecting pixel array sensor configured to derive multiband hyperspectral data and monochrome data from a perturbed beam of EM waves produced thereby, wherein said multiband hyperspectral data is derived from said perturbed beam of EM waves produced from said sample beam of EM waves by perturbation, in a known manner, of each the individual tiles of said perturbative mosaic array element.

[0018] According to another aspect of the invention, the substrate on which the perturbative mosaic array element is mounted is the body from which the photo-detecting pixel array sensor is itself composed.

[0019] According to another aspect of the invention, the mosaic array element comprises at least one grid patterned macropixel.

[0020] According to another aspect of the invention, the mosaic array element of the macropixels are characterized by repeating periodic grid patterns of “n ” * “m ” quadrangular tiles.

[0021] According to another aspect of the invention, each macropixel grid has a number of tiles and “zw” between 3 and 100, and typically between 5 and 8.

[0022] According to another aspect of the invention, the difference between the refractive indices of the mosaic array element layer and the substrate is greater than 0.1, and preferably greater than 0.25.

[0023] According to another aspect of the invention, the perturbative mosaic array element is composed of a transparent material, and typically composed of glass.

[0024] According to another aspect of the invention, the perturbative mosaic array element is composed of Si, ZnS, ZnO, Ge, SiC, TiO2, GaN or silica.

[0025] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by height differences between said tiles. One such height difference that produces highly desirable effects with respect to resolution is equivalent to the minimum wavelength divided by the refractive index divided by 4. According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in thickness between the tiles of the mosaic array elements are multiples, preferably integer, of a minimal thickness step or an equivalent step in the effective refractive index of the tile.

[0026] According to another aspect of the invention, the said minimal thickness step is derived from dividing the minimum detectable wavelength by the effective refractive index of the layer or stack material / s, and by an adjustment factor between 3 and 6, and preferably 4.

[0027] According to another aspect of the invention, the tiles are configured in a step configuration that minimizes the height differences between adjacent tiles.

[0028] According to another aspect of the invention, the step configuration is derived from a square spiral pattern.

[0029] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in the materials of which said tiles are composed.

[0030] According to another aspect of the invention, the difference in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by different arrangements along the path of the waves therethrough of multiple materials of which said tiles are composed, typically wherein the number of said materials in said arrangements is as low as possible.

[0031] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in sub-micron structures.

[0032] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in sub-micron structures are differences in the nanostructures of the surfaces of the tiles that produce differences in the refractive indices of the tiles. According to another aspect of the invention, differences in sub-micron structures include subwavelength grating patterns.

[0033] According to another aspect of the invention, the sensing apparatus further comprises a mechano-optical apparatus for positioning the components of the system in relation to a sample surface and for collecting the perturbed beams emanating therefrom.

[0034] According to another aspect of the invention, the mechano-optical apparatus further comprises at least one lens device for the reconfiguration of a beam of EM waves to correspond to the spatial geometry of the mosaic array element and the sensor.

[0035] According to another aspect of the invention, the substrate on which the perturbative mosaic array element is mounted is a lens or a curved array device in the mechano-optical apparatus.

[0036] According to another aspect of the invention, the photo-detecting pixel sensor array in the sensing apparatus is a CCD or CMOS sensor.

[0037] According to another aspect of the invention, the sensing apparatus further comprises a dedicated broadband light source configured to produce a beam of source EM waves that are reflected or scattered or transmitted from the surface of a sample to produce a beam of sample EM waves.

[0038] According to another aspect of the invention, a method for the acquisition of multiband spatio- spectral data using a perturbative mosaic array element, comprises the steps: (a) receiving a sample beam of EM waves reflected or scattered or transmitted from a sample in a perturbative mosaic array element; (b) perturbing said sample waves with said perturbative mosaic array element in a known manner such that a beam of perturbed EM waves is emitted from perturbative mosaic array element; (c) receiving said beam of perturbed EM waves in a photodetecting pixel array sensor adjacent to or in a conjugate plane to the perturbative mosaic array element; (d) generating a perturbed image in the photo-detecting pixel array sensor; (e) communicating the perturbed image to a data processing module; (f) using the known spectral transmission functions of the perturbed tiles; and (g) deriving of monochrome multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module to generate a spatio-spectral snapshot, whereby a sample beam of EM waves emanating from a sample is received and perturbed by a perturbative mosaic array element thereby becoming a perturbed beam of EM waves that is received by a photo-detecting pixel array sensor which generates a perturbed image which is communicated to a control module for further data processing.

[0039] According to another aspect of the invention, the spectral transmission functions fulfil, or approach very closely to the fulfillment of two criteria: (i) that said spectral transmission functions are orthogonal to all functions in a basis set of functions used to reconstruct the spectrum except one function in said basis set corresponding to a spectral transmission function of at least one perturbative tile of the matrix array; and (ii) that all perturbations satisfy the Nyquist rule for the smallest wavelength present in the spectrum in the perturbed image. By very closely approaching - if not entirely fulfilling - these two conditions, achievable as a result emerging from the aspects of the present invention relating to the geometry and materials of the perturbative mosaic array element taught herein, spectrum reconstruction is specifically less sensitive to the noise typically associated with interferograms

[0040] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by height differences between said tiles.

[0041] According to another aspect of the invention, the control module allocates to the pixels of the perturbed image from at least one of the steps of the perturbative mosaic array element a ground level value. According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in sub-micron structures of the tiles.

[0042] According to another aspect of the invention, the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in the materials and combinations thereof from which the tiles are composed.

[0043] According to another aspect of the invention, a portion of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are arranged in at least one macropixel configured of m x n tiles.

[0044] According to another aspect of the invention, a machine learning algorithm is operated by the data processing module to undertake a segmentation process on data relating to the at least one macropixel of the perturbed image from each of the steps of the perturbative mosaic array elements, wherein a ground level is allocated to at least one tile in each of the at least one macropixel. Such segmentation roles can be provided based on a predetermined training dataset of known cases. Such machine learning grouping can be done both to the raw data (shown in figure 7) or to the reconstructed spectral signal.

[0045] The perturbed image received by the control module contains a very significant volume and variety of monochrome raw spectral information not previously taught in the field, because said raw data is a direct product of the perturbative mosaic array element, which is not reported in the field. As such the: decomposition into independent components; reduction of noise; reduction of dimensionality; extraction of features; and compression, for said raw spectral information all require unique and non-trivial approaches to derive useful spatio- spectral images from the raw data. According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises the steps: applying a base truncation to the data relating to the at least one macropixel.

[0046] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises near-pixel binning to generate a monochrome image with resolution finer than the profile of macropixels on the photo-detecting pixel array sensor.

[0047] According to another aspect of the invention, the near-pixel binning is operated according to a preset periodic oscillation patterned according to the relative perturbations produced by adjacent tiles in the mosaic array element.

[0048] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises operating calculations for the perturbation effect of each pixel of the photo-detecting pixel array device corresponding to a single tile of the mosaic array element by at least one of: Fresnel equations; Rigorous Coupled Wave Theory; Finite Difference Time Domain Theory;

[0049] Effective Medium Approximation, or EM Green functions

[0050] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving on monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises two steps: applying a reconstruction algorithm to find a single global minima area; and then applying a compressed sensing (CS) multiparameter optimization algorithm.

[0051] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises the steps: quantizing the dynamic range of EM wave data; selecting from the quantized dynamic range a subrange of a finer quantization for perturbation analysis; utilizing the other remaining quantized dynamic range for analysis of a monochrome image.

[0052] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome data further comprises the steps of applying a period cycling average technique whereby the periodicity of transmission is considered approximately proportional to the mean wavelength transmitted, and whereby each tile in the mosaic array element is adjacent to at least four tiles in sequence of said period.

[0053] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome data further comprises the steps of configuring the four tiles in sequence of said period adjacent to a given tile such that at least two of the four tiles are adjacent to said given tile in the x direction, and the remaining two of the four tiles are adjacent to said given tile in the y direction.

[0054] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome and multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the control module further comprises the selection of binning of a sequential pixels within a periodic model to generate a non-perturbed contrast thereby increasing monochrome and lateral image resolution.

[0055] According to another aspect of the invention, the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data derives high resolution monochrome data and lower resolution multiband spatio- spectral data.

[0056] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0057] FIGS. 1A -IB constitute a schematic from two perspectives of a 5x5 grid of a mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention. FIG. 2 constitutes a schematic optical diagram of the planes through which waves emanating from a sample are perturbed and captured, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0058] FIGS. 3A-3B constitute three dimension perspectives of two embodiments of the mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0059] FIGS. 4A-4B constitute three dimension perspectives of two embodiments of the mosaic array, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0060] FIG. 5 constitutes a cross section of a mosaic array element mounted on a photo-detecting pixel array sensor, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0061] FIG. 6 constitutes a 4x4 grid mosaic array element mounted on a convex lens, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0062] FIG. 7 constitutes a typical gray level data of perturbed waves collected from a sequence of tiles in a mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0063] FIG. 8 constitutes an overview of a mosaic array element and micropixel thereof in which the tiles display a sequence of perturbations, according to some embodiments of the invention.

[0064] FIG. 9 constitutes a flow chart of proper design of the steps, size and optimized dimensions and materials of the perturbative array sfor the derivation of multi-band spatio-spectral data from an image perturbed by the perturbative mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

[0065] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components, modules, units and / or circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention. Some features or elements described with respect to one embodiment may be combined with features or elements described with respect to other embodiments. For the sake of clarity, discussion of same or similar features or elements may not be repeated.

[0066] Unless explicitly stated, the method embodiments described herein are not constrained to a particular order or sequence. Additionally, some of the described method embodiments or elements thereof can occur or be performed simultaneously, at the same point in time, or concurrently.

[0067] The term “perturbation ” as used herein, refers to changes in the spectrum that includes the interference effect as well as other effects such as scattering or diffraction or absorption and their combination via physical lows , for instance the effect on the spectral distribution as a result of dispersion, and the changes in amplitude as a result of the interactions of light at the interfaces of the perturbative mosaic array element. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the interference produces changes both in the phase and amplitudes of wavelengths. Such changes are a result of the polarization, angle of incidence distributions, refractive index and extinction coefficient of all the materials that are involved in the interfaces of the EM waves. Moreover, the materials dispersions of each of the materials involved and their surface roughness are causing additional impact. The term “perturbation” as used herein, further includes the overall integral changes in the spectral distribution form physical phenomena (such as interference) - both with respect to changes in the phase and amplitude per polarizations and angles sum. Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that the influences on the changes to the spectral distribution apart from strict interference are reflected mathematically, for example as part of “r ” in equation 4, which is outlined below.

[0068] The term “Ground Level”, as used herein, refers to a tile in a perturbative optical element, including the perturbative mosaic array element taught herein, which may have an optical thickness of zero, or otherwise be considered as partially transmitting wavelengths but having no perturbative effect thereon.

[0069] The term “orthogonal function ”, as used herein, refers to mathematical functions whose inner product is equal to zero, in a similar manner to which vectors are considered “orthogonal” if their dot product is equal to zero. Due to the mathematical concept of “orthogonality” being an inherently relative property of at least two functions, the terms “orthogonal function” can be used to refer to a set of functions whose inner product is zero, and as such the terms “orthogonal function ” and “set of orthogonal functions ” can be considered synonymous in the context of the present invention. It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art, that orthogonality of functions may be preserved over a finite range relevant to the application, in this case spectral imaging. It is also important to note that typical functions can be more efficiently described by specific bases. For example, sines or cosines functions can be described efficiently by base of Fourier series and therefore needs less coefficients for accurate description of such functions.

[0070] In the field of spatio-spectral imaging, data analysis of modulated images - i.e. of images whose spectral distribution has been affected in one or more ways - is typically achieved through an approach of the inverse problem, which posits an indirect means of analyzing data by optimizing the parameters of the modulated image. In the present invention, wherein the modulation applied is “perturbation ” - as defined above - the application of an orthogonal set of functions that match the designed set of transmission steps is a direct means of data analysis. In this context, “matching” refers to the extent of overlap between of at least one of the functions and the values of other functions in the in the same orthogonal set when close to zero.

[0071] The term “single base ” or “basis”, as used herein, refers to the collection of functions considered mutually orthogonal to one another, such that every function in the function space can be expressed as a linear combination of the functions in the single base set, wherein linear combination refers to a sum of said functions wherein each function is weighted with an appropriate coefficient.

[0072] Reference is made to FIGS. 1, which constitute schematics from two perspectives of a 5x5 grid of the mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention. A top view of mosaic array element 100 is shown in FIG. 1A, wherein numbers in each of the 25 tiles indicate the difference between the top surface of the tile and the top surface 120 of the mosaic array element 100, or of top surface of substrate 160 (also referred to as interface) wherein the numbers refer to an arbitrary unit of distance defined by a minimal thickness step. The term “top” in this context refers exclusively to the positioning of the mosaic array element 100 within FIGS. 1, the configuration of the mosaic array element 100 within the present invention is not practically limited in this way. The distance between the top of the tiles and the top of the mosaic array element 100 is displayed both as the number depicted within each tile in FIG. 1A and the distances from top surface 120 in FIG. IB, which displays a cross sectional view according to cross section AA shown in FIG. 1A, such that the numbers “0”, “2”, “4”, “3”, and “1” refer to the distances of zero, 121, 122, 123, and 124, between the interface 120 and the surface of tiles 110, 111, 112, 113, and 114, respectively. Each of the distances in height displayed as numbers in the corner of each tile in mosaic array element 100 in FIG. 1A are unique, thereby providing a different perturbative effect, and maximizing the richness of data for which acquisition is possible. The mosaic array element 100 is mounted upon a substrate 160, with a face 130. According to some embodiments, the side 130 is directed towards the object(s) from which sample waves are received, said direction being substantially on one face while it should be appreciated that more than one face may be affected and used.

[0073] According to some embodiments, the numbers within the tiles shown in FIG. 1A indicate distance from the substrate 160, such that the zero-distance tile 110 would be embodied as the absence of a tile, and wherein light travelling through this tile would not be perturbed at all. According to some embodiments, no "zero" tile, such as tile 110 as depicted in FIG.1A, is available and all tiles have a distance from interface that is created between material of 150 to material of 160 as an alternative to interface 120.

[0074] In the case illustrated by FIG. 1, a 5x5 grid of unique tiles is provided, however according to other embodiments any x mi" grid of tiles can be constructed to form a mosaic array element, wherein n may be equal to m, and wherein the tiles mXn array themselves may contain periodic duplicates. Furthermore, in the case illustrated by FIG. 1, the grid is shown on its own, however in other embodiments the grid may be repeated adjacent to the grid shown to produce a repeating pattern where a singular grid may constitute a single “macropixel”. Wherein the face(s) 130 of the overall juxtaposed adjacent grids will define the actual face directed towards the object(s) from which sample waves are received.

[0075] Each tile of the grid pattern shown in FIG. 1 corresponds to at least one pixel in the photodetecting pixel array device, and may correspond to more than one pixel in the photo-detecting pixel array device. In this way, the perturbations produced by each tile are individually captured, facilitating the derivation of the spatio-spectral cube with a high level of accuracy. Reference is made to FIG. 2, which constitutes a schematic optical diagram of the planes through which waves emanating from a sample are perturbed and captured, according to some embodiments of the invention (it being appreciated that actual size of lens and sensor elements is substantially enlarged for visualization purposes). A sample object 210 having a sample plane 211 and a sample view 212 emanates sample waves to a focusing lens 220, wherein waves are redirected to a first lens 230 which redirects said waves to the mosaic array element 240 over a distance fi indicated as 271. According to some embodiments, the non-mosaic face of the mosaic array element, which may be the substrate, can be positioned toward the sample object, such that perturbed waves emanate from the mosaic face toward the sensor. The perturbed waves formed by the mosaic array element 240 converge to the axis and diverge to a second lens 250 across a distance fi indicated as 272, which redirects said perturbed beams at a sensor 260 having a detecting area 261 positioned in a distance larger than f2 (the focal length that is indicated by 273). The formula 270 indicates that the value “m”, relating to magnification, is approximately equal to the distance f? divided by the distance fi. The two distances 272 and 273 both relate to the distances fz. In order to maintain the correspondence of each tile of the mosaic array element with at least one pixel of the photo-detecting pixel array device, the mosaic array element is in the conjugate plane of the photo-detecting pixel array device and the relation between tile dimension to pixel sensor dimension should take into account the magnification ratio.

[0076] According to other embodiments of the invention, the focusing lens, first lens, and second lens are not required to configure the mosaic array element with the photo-detecting pixel array device because the former and latter are not positioned in the conjugate plane of one another but are instead directly adjacent and therefore positioned on the same image plane. Note that the concept of using the perturbating tiles in a conjugate plane to the sensor plane is general, and therefore can be adapted to other optical schemes and designs. According to other embodiments of the invention, the mosaic array element is mounted directly on a lens positioned in a plane conjugate to the photo-detecting pixel array device.

[0077] Reference is made to FIGS. 3, which constitute two embodiments of the mosaic array element presented in three dimensions, according to some embodiments of the invention. In the embodiment displayed in FIG. 3A, a 5x5 grid of a mosaic array element is depicted wherein the height differences are the distances between the bottom of the of tiles and the top 301 of the mosaic array elements, similar to that shown in FIGS. 1. The height of the mosaic array thinner element 301 corresponds to the tile containing a zero distance of perturbating layer, such as the displayed in FIG. 1A as tile 110, and correspondingly the tile 302 relates to tile 111 in FIG. 1A. According to some embodiments, the “zero distance” value represented in tile 110 in FIG. 1A represents, as in FIG. 3A-B, a maximum height, wherein the “zero” reflects depth value. According to other embodiments, the “zero distance” reflects the height value, thus that tile 110 in FIG. 1A is empty, and accordingly sample waves pass directly to the substrate on which the mosaic array element is mounted through. The interface 310 between the mosaic array element and the substrate on which it is mounted divides the structure shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. In the case illustrated by FIG. 3A, a 5x5 grid of unique tiles is provided, however according to other embodiments any x m ” grid of tiles can be constructed to form a mosaic array element, wherein n may be equal to m, and wherein the tiles themselves may contain duplicates.

[0078] The embodiment shown in FIG. 3B displays a 25x25 grid itself containing a 5x5 grid of the 5x5 grids shown in FIG. 3A, such that the latter represents a “macropixel”. In the case displayed in FIG. 3B, a 5x5 arrangement of macropixels is shown, however other embodiments may utilize other “ x m2” arrangements of other “m x mi” macropixels to form a mosaic array element, or indeed of different macropixels with different “mx n arrangements. In still other embodiments, a mosaic array element may include an empty space, to produce a tile of unperturbed beam.

[0079] Light passing through from a top 305 to the interface 310 at bottom of the mosaic array element assembly, or vice versa, and is thereby at least partially perturbed, reaches the photo-detecting pixel array device (not shown in FIG. 3) such that each tile of the mosaic array device substantially corresponds to at least one pixel of the photo-detecting pixel array device, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the derivation of the spatio-spectral cube.

[0080] Reference is made to FIGS. 4, which constitutes two embodiments of the mosaic array element presented in three dimensions, according to some embodiments of the invention. In the embodiment displayed in FIG. 4A, a 5x5 grid of a mosaic array element is depicted wherein the height differences are the differences in heights of the tiles themselves, in an inverse configuration to that shown in FIG. 3. The height of the mosaic array element 402 corresponds to the tile containing a zero distance thickness, and is analogous to FIG. 1A as tile 110 and tile 150 in FIG. IB. The interface 410 between the mosaic array element and the substrate on which it is mounted divides the structure shown in FIG. 4A and in FIG. 4B. In the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 4A, a 5x5 grid of unique tiles is provided, however according to other embodiments any x mi" grid of tiles can be constructed to form a mosaic array element, wherein n may be equal to m, and wherein the tiles themselves may contain periodic duplicates.

[0081] Elsewhere in the field, thin layer devices - such as that taught in US10,036,667 B2 - impose explicit limits on the thickness of perturbative devices, wherein the thinnest layer width, expressed as an equivalence of optical path length, must be greater than the Lambda / refractive index due to the need to pass more than two peaks. This limitation serves the purposes of optimizing the Fabry -Perot approach to approximating - if not actually achieving - single snapshot imaging, but it also prevents the use of thicknesses that are fractions of the Lambda / refractive index. The method taught in US10,036,667 B2, and indeed other methods and systems of the art that rely on the FP approach, preclude the use of zero distance thickness geometries, or any thickness below the effective wavelength size.

[0082] The embodiment shown in FIG. 4B displays a 25x25 grid itself containing a 5x5 grid of the 5x5 grids shown in FIG. 4A, such that the latter represents a “macropixel”. In the embodiment displayed in FIG. 4B, a 5x5 arrangement of macropixels is shown, however other embodiments may utilize other “ x m2” arrangements of other “m x mi” macropixels to form a mosaic array element, or indeed of different macropixels with different “nix n arrangements. In still other embodiments, a mosaic array element may include an empty space, to produce a tile of unperturbed beam.

[0083] Light passing though from the top 405 to the interface 410 at bottom of the mosaic array element assembly, or vice versa, and is thereby at least partially perturbed, reaches the photodetecting pixel array device (not shown in FIG. 4) such that each tile of the mosaic array device corresponds to at least one pixel of the photo-detecting pixel array device, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the derivation of the spatio-spectral cube.

[0084] Reference is made to FIG. 5, which constitutes a cross section of mosaic array element mounted on a photo-detecting pixel array sensor, according to some embodiments of the invention. A combined photo-detecting pixel array sensor and mosaic array element device 500 has a detecting surface 501 through which sample beams enter, a lens array layer 510 composed of an array of micro lenses 570, a mosaic array element 530, a transparent spacer layer 520, a photo-detecting pixel array sensor layer 540, a bonding layer 550, and a wiring layer 560, and a mounting surface 502. Other embodiments may add or omit other features typical to CCD or CMOS sensors or other photo-detecting pixel array devices, such as additional wiring layers, heat exchange surfaces, bonding layers, or different configurations of lens layers and / or arrays. According to some embodiments, the mosaic array element 500 is integrated into a chip and positioned between the array of micro lenses 570 and the source of incoming sample waves. In other embodiments of the invention, multiple individual chips are laterally “stitched” together to produce a larger chip assembly.

[0085] Reference is made to FIG. 6, which constitutes a layer with 4x4 grid mosaic array element etched into or mounted on a convex lens as a substrate, according to some embodiments of the invention. A transparent convex lens with a convex surface edge 600 and flat surface edge 601 has a 4x4 mosaic array element etched into its convex surface, wherein each tile 602 has a different depth definable by a integers of minimal thickness step. Four different areas 603 of the lens are not modified to contain a mosaic array element, allowing for optical analysis separate from the derivation of the spatio-spectral cube. By combining a convex lens with a mosaic array element in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 the invention can simplify the configuration of the apparatus in cases where a convex lens is required and is used as a conjugate plan to the image. In the embodiment displayed in FIG. 6, the convex surface with edge 600 represents the “zero distance” from which mosaic tile depths are determined.

[0086] According to other embodiments, more or fewer tiles may constitute the mosaic array element mounted on a lens, and the lens surface on which the mosaic array element is mounted may be concave, or have more complex geometry associated with various particular optical applications.

[0087] Reference is made to FIG. 7, which constitutes a typical gray level data of perturbed waves received from a sequence of tiles in a mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention. The oscillatory pattern 701 observed in the gray level amplitudes results from the similarity of the interface reflectance properties on both sides of tiles in the mosaic array element, wherein the average periodicity is proportional to the wavelength of the perturbed EM wave. According to some embodiments of the invention, an average of said intensities across at least four consecutive points 702a - 702d, that match the factor value of four in Eqn 5, (for the purposes of clarity, not all points are labelled) can be operated by the use of binning in the data processing module, and thereby an accurate gray level approximate for said four points, corresponding to four tiles of the mosaic array element, can be derived. With accurate estimates achieved with gray level amplitude averaging, an improved monochrome accuracy can also be realized by smearing the impact of oscillations that belong to the spectral characteristics. Furthermore, and according to some embodiments of the invention, the derivation of the monochrome averaging is operated under the assumption that the transmission for each wavelength is represented by the formula T=l-R where R, the total reflection coefficient, is defined by: _ , Eqn 1

[0088] Wherein rl is the interface reflectance of the sample-facing interface of a tile of the mosaic array element, r2 is the interface reflectance of the sensor-facing interface of the tile of the mosaic array element, and 6 is the phase difference between the waves at the opposing surfaces of the perturbating material for the effective wavelength. The terms rl and r2 in Eqn 1 above are known to obey the Fresnel rules for each polarization and Incidence angle, and thus (for each specific wavelength), said terms depend on the specific angle of incidence, and polarization state, as well as a number of materials optical properties. In the case of near normal incidence, a relative sum can be applied for these properties with only a minor loss of generality. According to some embodiments, in the common case, values of said interface reflectance values can be: rl ~ r2 « 1 Eqn 2 Therefore, the previous equation 1 can be simplified: Eqn 3

[0089] From which said sinusoidal pattern 701 in monochrome amplitude thus emerges. According to some embodiments of the invention, the assumption expressed in Eqn 2 generates a more streamlined processing step operated by the data processing module in deriving the graph shown in FIG. 7 and expressed in Eqn 3 for the different steps. According to some embodiments, the sequential perturbative effects can be produced with a mosaic array element that has nearby sequential tiles of different characteristics, such as different thicknesses, or different tile materials, etc.

[0090] The value of 8 creates the oscillatory nature of the transmission change for thickness variations, depending on the following formula:

[0091] 8 = 2n * d * RI *c°s(y)Eqn 4 wavelength

[0092] Where (p is the angle of incidence in the material. As expressed in Eqn 3, a periodic behaviour is observable with respect to a change in d. In order to express and utilizes the complete nature of said change, a need persists to define typical “jumps” in the discrete thickness values, or their equivalent variation in refractive index. The invention thus maintains a plurality of consecutive values within such a period cycle.

[0093] According to some embodiments of the invention, an assumption can be made that for the case of near normal incidence, the average of integral over all angles distribution of cos(cp) will be approximately equivalent to ~1. Therefore, in order to achieve 2TT phase periodicity when the reflectance or transmittance 28 = 2TT, the present invention teaches that the term

[0094] 1 d*RJ / wavelength should also be equal to - and thus the smallest step which is equivalent to periodic reflection and transmission will coincides with the term of “minimal wavelength / RI / 2”.

[0095] According to some embodiments of the invention, a period contains cycle of one minimum and one maximum, wherein said minimum and maximum are preferred to be described by at least 2 consecutive step cases to arrive at a value of typical step, as shown in eqn. 5 below, wherein the “factor ” term is determined to be 4. Such a value can be related, in the context of the novel case presented by the raw data generated by the perturbative mosaic array element, to the Nyquist limit.

[0096] Increasing the value of said “factor ” to 4, , will, according to some embodiments of the invention, produce sufficient description of the period, but may cause the “mXn ” matrix to be contain insufficient span of the space and early base truncation before achieving the needed amplitude attenuation of the perturbed image. Conversely, using lower “factor” values may result in a situation where the periodic intensity cannot be sufficiently described, and thus a variety of errors in spectral reconstruction may present themselves. The smallest step quanta is determined in proportion to the interference spectral period:

[0097] Min wavelength)

[0098] T

[0099] Jypical Thickness step = - — - Eqn 5 Factor

[0100] Due to the presence of the two extrema, the minima and maxima, in a periodic cycle at least 4 thickness values per cycle are needed in order to characterize the continuous intensity changes within the thickness “jumps”. The typical value for this "Factor" is 4 while range of 3-6 can also be a non optimal option, wherein “RI” is the layer material refractive index of the transparent or semi-transparent layer / s of the perturbation steps.

[0101] Reference is made to FIG. 8, which constitutes an overview of a mosaic array element and / or micropixels thereof in which the tiles display a sequence of perturbations, according to some embodiments of the invention. By configuring tiles with sequential differences in optical or dimensional properties, adjacent to one another in both x 801 and y 802 directions, index stepping of adjacent tiles in the consecutive sequence of optical or dimensional properties can be achieved. According to some embodiments, configuring at least four tiles in a sequence adjacent to one another such that two extend in the x direction 801 and two extent in the y direction 802, the averaging of monochrome amplitudes can be resolved for four tiles, and thereby the monochrome resolution can be accurately improved by nearby pixels binning data. For example, tiles 810, 811, 812, and 813, each numbered with their respective position in a sequence of perturbative effects produced in the mosaic array element, are positioned such that the averaging of their monochrome amplitudes can accurately estimate the unperturbed gray level data for the position 814. Similarly, tiles 820, 821, 822, and 823, each numbered with their respective position in a sequence of perturbative effects produced in the mosaic array element, are positioned such the averaging of their monochrome amplitudes can accurately estimate the unperturbed gray level data for the position 824. According to some embodiments, the sequential perturbative effects can be produced with a mosaic array element that has tiles of different characteristics, such as different thicknesses, or different tile materials, etc.

[0102] According to other embodiments of the present invention, a rule for a tiles stepping configuration can be used in order to minimize the highest step between nearest neighbors. A tiles stepping configuration that minimizes the highest step between neighbours can confer the benefit of reducing shadowing and scattering phenomena between tiles separated by a large height difference. For example, in FIG. 8 the highest step difference can be seen between the first and last row. According to some embodiments of the present invention, the order of the rows can be adjusted, for example rows 3 and 4 can replace rows 5 and 6, and thereby the maximal nearest neighbors’ step will be reduced. In order to achieve the best mode of tiles ordering, a Squared Spiral arrangement for steps increments can be applied, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments of the present invention, the shadowing and scattering effects can be further mitigated by the use of a mechano-optical apparatus that conforms the light reaching the input face of the perturbative mosaic array element in straight lines. Whilst persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the shadowing and scattering effects can have an effect on the spectral accuracy and resolution that would not be considered desirous, there are some specific and non-obvious benefits conferred when the optical properties of the materials selected for specific tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are known. For example, if the relationship between distribution of wavelengths and the propensity to produce a shadowing or scattering effect due to height differences, than the resultant perturbed image can be back-analyzed to account for the said effect, providing further vital information relating to both the range of wavelengths present in the shadowing and the interferences it produces on the lower tile.

[0103] The stepping can be achieved by modification to optical properties by modulating the effective medium of transmission using nanometric structures. According to some embodiments, the use of nanometric structures can produce the same effect as step height differences between tiles without actually changing the relative heights of those tiles, thereby removing the requirement for the application of step height optimization to mitigate the influence of shadowing and scattering phenomena. In the case of nanometric structuring, ion implantations or nano- patterning can be applied to generated structure with controlled differences in refractive indices. As a first approximation, the refractive index of material can be considered as volume fractions between two constituents a and b materials complex dielectric constants, wherein -

[0104] {?= fa* £a + fb* Eb Eqn 6 = (n + ik)2Eqn 7 Where I* is the complex dielectric constant, and n and k are the refractive index and extinction coefficients, respectively. In a case where material a - is air, and material b is the perturbative material layer, the modulation of material properties can be achieved with the use of nanometric printing of matter patterns in the perturbative material, thus effecting gradual changes in its optical properties. Such patterning can be achieved with the use of lithography and etching, and with the use of elevating steps for the pattern densities that enables the control of the refractive indices, and the steps therebetween, of the tiles of the mosaic array element.

[0105] The benefits provided by the present invention in instantaneous collection of spatio-spectral data are themselves afforded by manufacturing techniques able to generate the features of the system taught by the invention, including that of the perturbative mosaic array element. The preferred techniques required to generate the mosaic array element depend on the configuration of said element, in particular whether the production constitutes a small batch, such as in the case of a single or small number of macropixels, or a large batch, wherein mosaic array element parts consisting of many macropixels or other configurations of tiles might be manufactured.

[0106] In the case of few or single macropixel or very small batch production, a preferred manufacturing technique for the perturbative mosaic array element may be obtained by a configuration of the general Focus Ion Beam (FIB) technique, which employs nanometric accuracy to remove atomic layers. Typically, the pixel -by-pixel approach of the FIB techniques ensures high levels of accuracy, but precludes application at a larger scale.

[0107] In the case of large batch production, a less cost-prohibitive solution is a configuration of the general lithography technique. Either by e-beam or optical exposures. In this relation two options are preferred: Lithography -and accurate etch cycles, or lithography that is combined with layer deposition followed by a lift-off process. According to another aspect of the invention, particular adaptation of photolithographic techniques may be used in the fabrication of CCD and CMOS sensors that can be configured to produce the mosaic array element at the required level of accuracy. Furthermore, according to another embodiment, with a specific configuration, photolithographic techniques can be used to combine the fabrication of sensors with the integrated mosaic array elements in a number of different conformations, including that demonstrated in FIG. 5. Similar techniques with specific adaptations can be used to generate an etched mosaic array element with nanometric accuracy on lens materials, for example that shown in FIG. 6.

[0108] Crucially, the benefit of the photolithographic techniques described above is the reduction in steps compared to conventional processes. By carefully configuring the horizontal and vertical mask exposures in a methodology specific to this application, the normal n2steps required for any n x n grid can be reduced significantly. Utilizing such a technique, the periodic geometric restrictions of the arrangement of the perturbative tiles can be balanced with mask exposure restrictions inherent to the photolithography and / or etch process, providing a suitable mosaic array element at a satisfactory manufacturing cost.

[0109] In cases where the perturbative effect provided by the mosaic array element derives from tiles with optically distinct nanostructures rather than thicknesses, a heavily adapted photolithographic process can be employed.

[0110] Reference is made to FIG. 9, which constitutes a flow chart of roles or operations conducted at the design phase of a module for the structure for derivation of multi-band spatio-spectral data from an image perturbed by the perturbative mosaic array element, according to some embodiments of the invention. In the embodiment demonstrated by FIG. 9, the control module has access to the designed data of parameters of sensor and the mechano-optical apparatus, which are indicated in logic boxes 920 and 930, respectively. In the embodiment demonstrated by FIG. 9, input requirements for the control module are shown in logic box 910, containing parameters relating to spectral accuracy 911, spectral resolution 912, and the range of wavelengths 913 to be analyzed, the first two of which (911 and 912) directly feed into the first step 901 of the parameter design logic, wherein a base truncation is operated on the “mXn ’’matrix, wherein said matrix can refer to the repeating section of layers contained in a macropixel of the perturbative mosaic array element, according to some embodiments. In the second step 902 of the parameter design logic, a minimal wavelength is used to determine the basic step, which is at least partially determined as result of the set requirement 913 for the range of wavelengths to be analyzed and equation 5 which needs the minimal wavelength value. The smaller the range of wavelengths required 913 for the analysis, the larger the number of transmission cases in the “mXn” required for analysis of the perturbed image.

[0111] In the third step 903 of the parameter design logic, a determination is made if the basic step determined in step 902 can generate a maximal “mXn” size that can describe a spectral resolution that meets the requirements of 911 and 912. If the determination of the third step 903 produces a negative result (no), then the control logic much either increase mXn or refine the requirements 911 and 912, in doing so rebeginning the control logic from the first step 901. If the determination of the third step 903 produces a positive result (yes), then the control logic progresses to the fourth step 904, wherein a contrast is operated on the perturbed image with respect to the selection of materials used in the perturbative mosaic array element. After the contrast of step 904 is operated to have a desired signal above sensor noise (923), the system design can progress to the fifth step 905, wherein a basic step height is updated. By cycling through this logic multiple times, including other control steps not shown (for the sake of brevity) the present invention can determine a basic step height and its sufficient material contrast with which to operate a data analysis on the perturbed image to derive therefrom a high resolution spatio-spectral snapshot. According to some embodiments of the invention, one of said other control steps, is the requirements derived by the single basis set of orthogonal functions. The larger a base set, the greater the accuracy of the derivation of spectral data from the perturbed image. Such a set is infinite in theory, but finite in computational practice, and above a certain threshold can meet the requirements set in 910. The single basis set of orthogonal functions is particularly important for the first step 901 of the control logic. According to some embodiments of the invention, truncation level is determined and operated in 901, wherein the “mXn” matrix contains requisite number of transmission cases needed to solve the set of weights that build the spectral signal from the perturbed image. According to some embodiments of the invention, this is done by solving the “mXn ” equation matrix using the “mXn ” orthogonal function of the base.

[0112] The control parameters of the sensor 920 and the mechano-optical apparatus 930 are also important for the control logic illustrated in FIG. 9. The first step 901 depends on a bilateral relationship with the pixel size of the sensor 921, as well as more simple unilateral relationships with: the 922 the contribution to spatial resolution from the periodicity of the current sensor. According to some embodiments of the invention, the optical contribution to spatial resolution 933 is also an important factor in the first step 901 of the parameter design logic, and 923 the contribution The interplay between the control parameters of the sensor 920 and the mechano- optical apparatus 930, are also crucial for adequate adaptation for the parameter design logic. For example, the pixel size of the sensor 921 has a bilateral relationship with the general control of the system optics 931, and, according to some embodiments of the invention, has a unilateral relationship with 922 the contribution to spatial resolution by the periodicity of the current sensor, which in turn also has a unilateral relationship with 931 the general control of the system optics. According to other embodiments of the invention of the present invention, a basic requirement for the mXn size is another factor in the requirement for spatial resolution, such that sensor control parameters 920 and optic control paramaters 930 are engaged macropixel to interact with the spectral resolution requirments produced thereby. According to some embodiments of the present invention, said control parameters 920 and 930 can be modified in order to comply with the spectral resolutions requirements, and and vice versa.

[0113] According to some embodiments of the invention, the fourth step 904 of the parameter design logic is directly affected by noise produced by the physical limitations of the system, in particular the noise 932 from the mechano-optical apparatus, and the noise 933 from the sensor, which are - to some extent - interdependent. Since the perturbation level for each pixel depends of the refractive index differences in the interfaces in the tile of the perturbative mosaic array element from which said the light entering said pixel is transmitted, the system of the present invention introduces a requirement to verify that the interfaces perturbation contribution will be much larger than noise levels, which can be introduced by selection of the substrate and layer / s material. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that equn 5 demonstrates that such selection will have an impact on the typical step geometrical size for each tile, and thus that in each material change an update to the minimal step must be also be operated.

[0114] The number of layers in the perturbative mosaic array element has a direct relationship on the analysis of the data demonstrated by the parameter design logic shown in FIG. 9. A smaller number of layers (preferably one or two), which may be referred to as a shorter or smaller “stack” of layers, will incur a lesser requirement for computational cycles presented by the parameter design logic of FIG. 9. According to some embodiments of the invention, a larger number of layers in the stack confers some advantage in producing a more desirous signal to noise ratio, but can increase the computational requirements of the parameter design logic to overcome the complexity introduced by the dispersion of electromagnetic waves produced by a greater number of layers in the perturbative mosaic array element. The appearance of many internal reflections in the stack interfaces may produce uncontrolled oscillations and sensitivity to process manufacturing errors and variations. Though in such state signal to noise improvement to the transmittance of EM waves and their interaction with the orthogonal base that is used for spectral reconstruction, may become complex and not easy to predict.

[0115] According to some embodiments of the invention, preference may be given to adding a small number of layers (preferably one or two) in order to achieve sufficiently high amplitudes of the transmitted perturbed image above the noise levels as a result of the large difference in refractive indices for each interface involved. Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A sensing apparatus for acquiring multiband spatio-spectral data, comprising: a. a photo-detecting pixel array sensor; b. a perturbative mosaic array element mounted on substrate able to partially transmit and perturb the sample beam of electro-magnetic (EM) waves reflected or scattered or transmitted from an object(s), wherein each tile dimension of the perturbative mosaic array element correlates to at least one pixel dimension in said photo-detecting pixel array sensor, wherein said mosaic array element is part of said sensor or contiguously positioned between the object(s) from which said waves are received and said sensor and in close proximity to said sensor's plane or in a conjugate plane thereto, and wherein each of the tiles of said mosaic array element has known geometry and material properties which cause a known spectral perturbation to the EM waves in said sample beam to produce a perturbed beam of EM waves which is transmitted to said sensor; and c. a data processing module in communication with said photo-detecting pixel array sensor configured to derive multiband hyperspectral data and monochrome data from perturbed beam of EM waves produced thereby, wherein said multiband hyperspectral data is derived from said perturbed beam of EM waves produced from said sample beam of EM waves by perturbation, in a known manner, of each the individual tiles of said perturbative mosaic array element.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate on which the perturbative mosaic array element is mounted is the body from which the photo-detecting pixel array sensor is itself composed.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mosaic array element comprises at least one grid patterned macropixel.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the mosaic array element of the macropixels are characterized by repeating periodic grid patterns of “n ” * “m ” quadrangular tiles.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein each macropixel grid has a number of tilesand “zw” between 3 and 100, and typically between 5 and 8.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the difference between the refractive indices of the mosaic array element layer and the substrate is greater than 0.1, and preferably greater than 0.25.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the perturbative mosaic array element is composed of a transparent material, and typically composed of glass.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the perturbative mosaic array element is composed of Si, ZnS, ZnO, Ge, SiC, TiO2, GaN or silica9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by height differences between said tiles.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the differences in thickness between the tiles of the mosaic array elements are multiples, preferably integer, of a minimal thickness step or an equivalent step in the effective refractive index of the tile.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the said minimal thickness step is derived from dividing the minimum detectable wavelength by the effective refractive index of the layer or stack material / s, and by an adjustment factor between 3 and 6, and preferably 4.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tiles are configured in a step configuration that minimizes the height differences between adjacent tiles.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the step configuration is derived from a square spiral pattern.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in the materials of which said tiles are composed.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the difference in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by different arrangements along the path of the waves therethrough of multiple materials of which said tiles are composed, typically wherein the number of said materials in said arrangements is as low as possible.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in sub-micron structures.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the differences in sub-micron structures are differences in the nanostructures of the surfaces of the tiles that produce differences in the refractive indices of the tiles.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein differences in sub-micron structures include subwavelength grating patterns.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensing apparatus further comprises a mechano- optical apparatus for positioning the components of the system in relation to a sample surface and for collecting the perturbed beams emanating therefrom.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the mechano-optical apparatus further comprises at least one lens device for the reconfiguration of a beam of EM waves to correspond to the spatial geometry of the mosaic array element and the sensor.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate on which the perturbative mosaic array element is mounted is a lens or a curved array device in the mechano-optical apparatus.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photo-detecting pixel sensor array in the sensing apparatus is a CCD or CMOS sensor.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensing apparatus further comprises a dedicated broadband light source configured to produce a beam of source EM waves that are reflected or scattered or transmitted from the surface of a sample to produce a beam of sample EM waves.

24. A method for the acquisition of multiband spatio-spectral data using a perturbative mosaic array element, comprising the steps: a. receiving a sample beam of EM waves reflected or scattered or transmitted from a sample in a perturbative mosaic array element; b. perturbing said sample waves with said perturbative mosaic array element in a known manner such that a beam of perturbed EM waves is emitted from perturbative mosaic array element; c. receiving said beam of perturbed EM waves in a photo-detecting pixel array sensor adjacent to or in a conjugate plane to the perturbative mosaic array element; d. generating a perturbed image in the photo-detecting pixel array sensor; e. communicating the perturbed image to a data processing module; f. applying spectral transmission functions to the perturbed image; and g. deriving of monochrome multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module to generate a spatio-spectral snapshot, whereby a sample beam of EM waves emanating from a sample is received and perturbed by a perturbative mosaic array element in a known manner thereby becoming a perturbed beam of EM waves that is received by a photo-detecting pixel array sensor which generates a perturbed image which is communicated to a control module for further data processing.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the spectral transmission functions fulfil, or approach very closely to the fulfillment of two criteria: (i) that said spectral transmission functions are orthogonal to each other and to all functions in a basis set of functions used to reconstruct the spectrum with the exception of at least one function corresponding to the spectral transmission function of at least one tile, wherein one function in said basis set corresponds to a spectral transmission function of one perturbative tile of the matrix array; and (ii) that all perturbations satisfy the Nyquist rule for the smallest wavelength present in the spectrum in the perturbed image.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by height differences between said tiles.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the control module allocates to the pixels of the perturbed image from at least one of the steps of the perturbative mosaic array element a ground level value.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in sub-micron structures of the tiles.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the differences in the perturbative effect of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are produced by differences in the materials and combinations thereof from which the tiles are composed.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein a portion of the tiles of the perturbative mosaic array element are arranged in at least one macropixel configured of m x n tiles.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein a machine learning algorithm is operated by the data processing module to undertake a segmentation process on data relating to the at least one macropixel of the perturbed image from each of the steps of the perturbative mosaic array elements,32. The method of claim 30, wherein a ground level is allocated to at least one tile in each of the at least one macropixel.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises the steps: applying a base truncation to the data relating to the at least one macropixel.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the deriving of multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises near-pixel binning to generate a monochrome image with resolution finer than the profile of macropixels on the photo-detecting pixel array sensor.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the near-pixel binning is operated according to a preset periodic oscillation patterned according to the relative perturbations produced by adjacent tiles in the mosaic array element.

36. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of multiband spatio-spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises operating calculations for the perturbation effect of each pixel of the photo-detecting pixel array device corresponding to a single tile of the mosaic array element by at least one of:Fresnel equations; Rigorous Coupled Wave Theory; Finite Difference Time Domain Theory; Effective Medium Approximation, or EM Green functions.

37. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving on monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises two steps: applying a reconstruction algorithm to find a single global minima area; and then applying a compressed sensing (CS) multiparameter optimization algorithm.

38. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the data processing module further comprises the steps: quantizing the dynamic range of EM wave data; selecting from the quantized dynamic range a subrange of a finer quantization for perturbation analysis; utilizing the other remaining quantized dynamic range for analysis of a monochrome image.

39. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of monochrome data further comprises the steps of applying a period cycling average technique whereby the periodicity of transmission is considered approximately proportional to the mean wavelength transmitted, and whereby each tile in the mosaic array element is adjacent to at least four tiles in sequence of said period.

40. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of monochrome data further comprises the steps of configuring the four tiles in sequence of said period adjacent to a given tile such that at least two of the four tiles are adjacent to said given tile in the x direction, and the remaining two of the four tiles are adjacent to said given tile in the y direction.

41. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of monochrome and multiband spatio- spectral data from the perturbed image by the control module further comprises theselection of binning of a sequential pixels within a periodic model to generate a nonperturbed contrast thereby increasing monochrome and lateral image resolution.

42. The method of claim 24, wherein the deriving of monochrome multiband spatio- spectral data derives high resolution monochrome data and lower resolution multiband spatio-spectral data.

Images