Low-light and Fluorescence Hyperspectral Imaging

The topic of the project is experimental work in the field of hyperspectral imaging. A brief general description of this field is given below. The work will be done mainly at Norsk Elektro Optikk AS (NEO), but in close collaboration with FFI and NTNU. Th e main focus of this project is the development of a hyperspectral camera optimized for low-light conditions. Most current hyperspectral imagers, including those manufactured by NEO, are not able to record good data at the low light levels found in fluore scence imaging (of interest in medical applications) or remote sensing at night (of interest in military applications). A low-light hyperspectral camera will be a very useful research tool which can be put to immediate use in ongoing research activities a t FFI and NTNU. The proposed work is expected to yield results which can form the basis of several publications. The main publications will be those describing the design and performance of the low-light camera. When this instrumentation is established, it can readily be used to generate publishable results in the context of applications under study at FFI and NTNU. Hyperspectral imaging is a fertile and rapidly expanding field of research. This is exemplified by a growing number of employed researchers studying hyperspectral imaging in the three involved organizations: A total of 3 in 2001 will have grown to about 15 by the end of 2008. Furthermore, NEO, FFI and NTNU have a clear interest in collaborating on this topic. In total, this provides an exce llent basis for supporting the research planned in this PhD study.