Calibration algorithm for Fourier transform spectrometer with thermal instabilities.

Complex domain calibration is an efficient method to correct the amplitude and phase of a spectrum obtained from a Fourier transform spectrometer. This method is, however, not directly applicable in the occurrence of a zero path difference (ZPD) shift between a scene interferogram and calibration blackbody interferograms. This situation is likely to happen for a system with thermal instabilities. It is found that a ZPD shift smaller than 1 sampling point can cause a large disagreement between the spectra evaluated from the two interferometer sweep directions. We have developed an algorithm for a complex calibration in the presence of ZPD shifts. The restricting aspect of the real-time capability is taken into account.