Abstract for CSW, Ann Arbor MI, 2022

Combining hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging provides a powerful sensing modality with broad applications from astronomy to biology. Existing methods rely on temporal data acquisition or snapshot imaging of spatially separated detectors. These approaches incur fundamental artifacts that degrade imaging performance. To overcome these limitations, we present a stomatopod-inspired sensor capable of snapshot hyperspectral and polarization sensing along a single optical axis. The design relies on the unique optoelectronic properties of semiconductor polymers. By orienting the polymers in the plane of the film, the photodetectors become intrinsically polarization sensitive. The detectors can also be made semitransparent enabling multiple detectors to be stacked along the path of light. We exploit these attributes to achieve multiple spectral and polarization channels simultaneously by stacking the polarization sensitive detectors along with polymer retarders with specific chromatic dispersion. We show that this design can sense up to 15 spectral channels over a 350-nm bandwidth. A detector is also demonstrated with the ability to simultaneously register four spectral channels and three polarization channels. The talk will conclude with a discussion on how this bio-inspired design opens up a range of opportunities for high performance and tailored spectral and polarimetric imaging.