In the field of spectral imaging, numerous instruments use scanning-based technologies. However, the temporal dimension of these systems, whether to scan the spectrum or scan the scene, can be an issue for some applications. This is particularly the case when trying to observe and identify rapid temporal variations in a fixed scene or detecting objects of interest when moving. In this case, it is suitable to observe the desired spectral information of the scene simultaneously, and so-called snapshot systems have been thus investigated. In this paper, we study the ability of a kaleidoscope-based multiview camera to acquire multispectral information in the long wavelength infrared. Several strategies and technologies will be compared to add the spectral function inside the different blocks of a kaleidoscope-based camera: the front lens, the kaleidoscope, or the reimaging lens. The studied camera uses an uncooled infrared detector and thus must deal with the issue of having a large aperture.

Multi imaging snapshot systems are used for a wide range of applications in all the spectral ranges. We propose here a study and a realization of a multi-view snapshot system using a kaleidoscope in the Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) and compatible with uncooled infrared detectors such as microbolometers. The optical system has a high numerical aperture, a wide range of fields of view and uses a single focal plane array. We will establish here the advantages of this technology on other design strategies and especially the kaleidoscope design will be compared with the TOMBO design. Then the optical conception rules for every subset of the kaleidoscope architecture will be described and the results of a first demonstrator will be presented. The features of this system will be compared with a TOMBO-based system with a front afocal.

The EnMAP hyperspectral Imager (HSI)1 will allow to acquire Images of the Earth surface in a push broom configuration. 230 wavelength bands between 420nm and 2450nm are simultaneously recorded with a ground resolution of 30m x 30m. The entire satellite is designed and built by OHB-Systems. Characterizing and calibrating a state-of-the-art hyperspectral instrument as the EnMAP HSI requires to establish measurement setups that outperform the test object in all relevant performance aspects to achieve the required measurement accuracies. At the same time technical as well as economical considerations yield to develop measurement equipment that can support multiple use cases throughout the Alignment integration and Test (AIT) Process of the Instrument. This paper reports on development and commissioning activities of optical ground support equipment (OGSE) for full aperture testing of the EnMAP HSI. Design requirements as well as measured setup performance is reported. The overall OGSE-system has been set-up and commissioned at OHB in Oberpfaffenhofen. It supports the following measurement cases: • Double-pass wave front measurement of the HSI-Telescope for alignment to the HSI-Spectrometer Module • Line of sight characterisation of the HSI with sub-arcsecond accuracy • Scanning knife edge modulation transfer function (MTF)-Measurement of the HSI in the entire field-of-view • Spectral response characterisation of the HSI in the entire spectral range with sub-nanometer wavelength accuracy. The OGSE consists of several modules. The core component, a highly stable diffraction-limited 200 mm Collimator including a movement system and a scene generator was designed and built by Bertin Technologies upon OHB specifications.

This document presents several original OGSEs, Optical Ground Support Equipment, specifically designed and realized for the optical testing and calibration of earth observation satellites operating in a large spectral band from 0.4 mu m to 14.7 mu m. This work has been mainly supported by recent development dedicated to MTG, Meteosat Third Generation, the ESA next generation of meteorological satellites. The improved measurement capabilities of this new satellite generation has generated new challenging requirements for the associated optical test equipments. These improvements, based on design and component innovation will be illustrated for the MOTA, the GICS and the DEA OGSEs. MOTA and GICS are dedicated to the AIT, Assembly Integration and Test, of FCI, the Flexible Combined Imager of the imaging satellite MTG-I. DEA OGSE is dedicated to the AIT of the DEA, Detection Electronics Assembly, which is part of IRS instrument, an IR sounder part of MTG-S satellite. From an architectural point of view, the presented original designs enable to run many optical tests with a single system thanks to a limited configuration effort. Main measurement capabilities are optical quality testing (MTF based mainly on KEF measurement), Line of Sight (LoS) stability measurement, straylight analyses, VNIR-MWIR-LWIR focal plane array co-registration, and broadband large dynamic spectro-radiometric calibration. Depending on the AIT phase of the satellite, these source assemblies are operated at atmospheric pressure or under secondary vacuum. In operation, they are associated with an opto-mechanical projection system that enables to conjugate the image of the source assembly with the focal plane of the satellite instruments. These conjugation systems are usually based on high resolution, broadband collimator, and are optionally mounted on hexapod to address the entire field of instruments.

Most of space instruments and research facilities require test equipment with demanding opto-mechanical stability. In some specific cases, when the stability performance directly drives the final performance of the scientific mission and when feasibility is questionable, specific methods must be implemented for the associated technical risk management. In present paper, we will present our heritage in terms of methodology, design, test and the associated results for two specific systems : the SOPAC-POS and the MOTA, generating new references for future developments. From performance point of view, we will emphasis on following key parameters : design symmetry, thermal load management, and material and structural choices. From a method point of view the difficulties arise first during design, from the strong coupling between the thermal, mechanical and optical performance models, and then during testing, from the difficulty of conceiving test setup having appropriate performance level. We will present how these limitations have been overcome. SOPAC-POS is the target alignment system of the LMJ, Laser Mega Joule, the French inertial confinement fusion research center. Its stability has been demonstrated by tests in 2014 after 10 years of research and development activities, achieving 1μm stability @ 6m during one hour periods. MOTA is an Optical Ground Support Equipment aiming at qualifying by tests the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI). FCI is an instrument for the meteorological satellite MTGI, a program of and funded by the European Space Agency and under prime contractorship of Thales Alenia Space. Optimized design will allow to get better than 0.2 μrad stability for one hour periods, as required for MTF measurement.

This paper describes the alignment system developed on the Laser Mégajoule facility, allowing to focus the laser beams and to point the plasma diagnostics on the target. After an overview of the main laser components and alignment architecture, we detail some major equipments as the 6 tele-microscopes used to align the target, the continuous phase plate within the final optics assembly, the plasma diagnostic green pointer and the common reference which is the cornerstone of the chamber center alignment. Finally we present some results obtained on the telemicroscope prototype and a photometric prototype of the common reference. The expected performance of the alignment system will also be discussed.

Phase-modulated Mueller ellipsometry (PMME) is used to probe scattering by suspensions of polystyrene latex spheres, with particle diameters ranging from 400 nm to 3 microm. PMME allows simultaneous measurement of the 16 coefficients of the Mueller matrix. Furthermore PMME measurements can easily be carried out owing to a calibration procedure implemented in a scattering configuration. The measurements performed on low concentrations show good agreement with Mie theory. Moreover size distribution could be obtained with a least-squares method based on a genetic fit algorithm. Experimental evidence of multiple scattering on PMME measurements is also presented.

Calibration of polarization-state generators (PSG's), polarimeters, and Mueller-matrix ellipsometers (MME's) is an important factor in the practical use of these instruments. A new general procedure, the eigenvalue calibration method (ECM), is presented. It can calibrate any complete MME consisting of a PSG and a polarimeter that generate and measure, respectively, all the states of polarization of light. In the ECM, the PSG and the polarimeter are described by two 4 x 4 matrices W and A, and their 32 coefficients are determined from three or four measurements performed on reference samples. Those references are smooth isotropic samples and perfect linear polarizers. Their optical characteristics are unambiguously determined during the calibration from the eigenvalues of the measured matrices. The ECM does not require accurate alignment of the various optical elements and does not involve any first-order approximation. The ECM also displays an efficient error control capability that can be used to improve the MME behavior. The ECM is illustrated by an experimental calibration, at two wavelengths (458 and 633 nm), of a MME consisting of a coupled phase modulator associated with a prism division-of-amplitude polarimeter.

A new Mueller matrix ellipsometer (MME) is presented. It provides the simultaneous measurement of the 16 Mueller matrix coefficients in four modulation periods (80 μs under the present conditions). This system is accurate (error≤1%), robust since there are no moving parts, enables low-light-level measurements without a chopper and lock-in amplifier and can be easily used for real time measurements. The setup is based on the polarization modulator–sample–polarization detector configuration. The polarization modulation is provided by a coupled-phase-modulator (CPM) which uses two identical phase-locked electro-optic phase modulators operating at 50 KHz. With the introduction of a coupling object between the two phase modulators, the four Stokes parameters of the light beam, including the intensity, are independently modulated on the basis of the first and second complex harmonics of the modulation signal. The polarization of light, after interaction with the sample, is measured with a multichannel division of amplitude polarimeter (DOAP). This DOAP is based on a slightly beveled amorphous-silicon (a-Si) coated glass plate. The high index of refraction contrast between a-Si and SiO2 provides an efficient polarimeter, less sensitive to the angle of incidence than usual dielectric-coated ones. The spectroscopic capability of the MME is illustrated by preliminary measurements of depolarization effects at two laser wavelengths: He–Ne at 632.8 nm and Ar at 488 nm.

A method for light polarization modulation is described. It allows us to independently modulate, at a high frequency, the four components of the Stokes vector of light using a single phase modulator. It works in a double-pass configuration: the polarization of light is modulated a first time by the phase modulator, and is then modified by a coupling object before being modulated a second time by the same modulator. The coupling object consists of multiple glass plates, oriented at the Brewster angle, acting as a partial polarizer and in a right angle prism acting as a phase shifter and back reflector. Its polarimetric properties are obtained from refractive index contrast effects, which provides optimized and constant properties over a wide spectral range. The phase modulator can be either an electro-optic modulator providing a very high-frequency capability (up to 100 MHz) or a photoelastic modulator providing a wide spectral range capability. It is robust because there is no moving part and simple to implement because of the presence of one modulation. It displays a high level of sensitivity because all the components are high-frequency modulated. Two applications using this modulator in a polarimeter or in a polarization states generator are described. The four modulations, having the same fundamental frequency, are easily demodulated by numerical data processing. Optimized demodulation processing, adapted to the different kind of phase modulator is described. Its adaptation taking into account the bandwidth limitation and the variation of the sampling phase, are finally presented in the case of a photoelastic modulator.

A broadband division-of-amplitude polarimeter (DOAP) is presented. It can provide the real-time measurement of any state of polarization of light, described by its Stokes vector, in large spectral windows. The light is split first into two beams by a prism and then into four beams by means of any polarizer device that will separate the two linear orthogonal states of polarization. Finally, the Stokes vector is directly deduced from the four measured intensities. To avoid interference effects, the splitting of light into four beams is induced only by refractive-index contrast effects between semi-infinite media that are weakly dependent on the wavelength. An experimental setup working from 0.4 to 2 mum is described. It provides similar sensitivities for all the states of polarization, and its characteristics are constant, on a scale of a few percent, within the spectral window. Calibrations performed at 458 and 633 nm display good agreement between theoretical and experimental values. The accuracy of the prism DOAP, evaluated by measurement of the Stokes vector produced by a rotating Glan polarizer, is better than 1%. An infrared extension of this polarimeter is also presented.

A new polarization modulator is presented. It uses two phase-locked identical electro-optic phase modulators at 50 kHz. Thanks to a coupling object introduced between the two phase modulators, the four Stokes parameters of the light beam are independently modulated on the basis of the first and second complex harmonics of the modulation signal. A Mueller matrix ellipsometer (MME) using this new modulation and a multichannel polarimeter are also described. The data processing and the feedback control of Pockels cells is based on a numerical Fourier transform system. It allows one to measure simultaneously, in one modulation period (20 μs), the 16 coefficients of any Mueller matrix. This MME takes advantage of an easy-to-operate calibration method. The high-frequency modulation of the four parameters of the polarization enables low-light-level measurements (without any chopper and lock-in) and presents spectroscopic capabilities. It provides a promising tool for the study of many subjects of growing interest like, for example, rough surfaces treatment or particle characterization.

Improvements of the Fourier transform phase-modulated ellipsometry (FTPME) technique are described. Measurements performed on the silicon oxide-silicon wafer system are used to illustrate FTPME performances. In particular, the chemistry of Si(100) and Si(111) surfaces after hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment is investigated. Precisions on the ellipsometric angles Ψ and Δ of ±0.003° and ±0.008°, respectively, are obtained in the SiHn stretching mode region. SiH and SiH2 vibrations are identified at the Si surface revealing that submonolayer sensitivity can be achieved with FTPME. As a consequence, FTPME appears as a promising technique to perform detailed studies of interface formation and thin-film growth.