Dual-camera snapshot spectral imaging with a pupil-domain optical diffuser and compressed sensing algorithms

We propose a snapshot spectral imaging method for the visible spectral range using two digital cameras placed side-by-side: a regular red–green–blue (RGB) camera and a monochromatic camera equipped with a dispersive diffractive diffuser placed at the pupil of the imaging lens. While spectral imaging was shown to be feasible using a single monochromatic camera with a pupil diffuser [Appl. Opt. 55, 432 (2016)], adding an RGB camera provides more spatial and spectral information for stable reconstruction of the spectral cube of a scene. Results of optical experiments confirm that the combined data from the two cameras relax the complexity of the underdetermined reconstruction problem and improve the reconstructed image quality obtained using compressed sensing-based algorithms.