# Spectral DiffuserCam: lensless snapshot hyperspectral imaging with a spectral filter array

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.08565 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.08565/

## Key facts

- Cited by 24 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 15 Jun 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [Untrained networks for compressive lensless photography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.07609/) (2021)
- [Thin On-Sensor Nanophotonic Array Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.02797/) (2023)
- [Physics vs. Learned Priors: Rethinking Camera and Algorithm Design for Task-Specific Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.09871/) (2022)
- [Degradation-Modeled Multipath Diffusion for Tunable Metalens Photography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.22753/) (2025)
- [A Simple Framework for 3D Lensless Imaging with Programmable Masks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.07966/) (2021)
- [Towards Robust and Generalizable Lensless Imaging with Modular Learned Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01102/) (2025)
- [Polarization Multi-Image Synthesis with Birefringent Metasurfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.08106/) (2023)
- [Learning to See Through Dazzle](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.15919/) (2024)
- [FlatTrack: Eye-tracking with ultra-thin lensless cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15450/) (2025)
- [Coded Illumination for Improved Lensless Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12862/) (2021)
- [mHealth hyperspectral learning for instantaneous spatiospectral imaging of hemodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16205/) (2023)
- [Filterless Snapshot Hyperspectral Imaging using Guided Patch Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.02798/) (2024)
- [Collaborative On-Sensor Array Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.04061/) (2025)
- [Learned Off-aperture Encoding for Wide Field-of-view RGBD Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22523/) (2025)
- [Let There Be Light: Robust Lensless Imaging Under External Illumination With Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.16766/) (2024)
- [Integration of Communication and Computational Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19415/) (2024)
- [Snapshot multi-spectral imaging through defocusing and a Fourier imager network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.14287/) (2025)
- [Spectrum from Defocus: Fast Spectral Imaging with Chromatic Focal Stack](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20184/) (2025)
- [Flow-Matching Guided Deep Unfolding for Hyperspectral Image Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.01912/) (2025)
- [Hierarchical Spatial-Frequency Aggregation for Spectral Deconvolution Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.06751/) (2025)
- [A Lensless Polarization Camera](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.17156/) (2026)
- [Guided Lensless Polarization Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27357/) (2026)
- [Integrated Forward-Inverse Network for Lensless Image Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.04608/) (2026)
- [Aperture-aware Dispersion 5-D Light-field Imaging Spectrometer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.04635/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Hyperspectral imaging is useful for applications ranging from medical diagnostics to agricultural crop monitoring; however, traditional scanning hyperspectral imagers are prohibitively slow and expensive for widespread adoption. Snapshot techniques exist but are often confined to bulky benchtop setups or have low spatio-spectral resolution. In this paper, we propose a novel, compact, and inexpensive computational camera for snapshot hyperspectral imaging. Our system consists of a tiled spectral filter array placed directly on the image sensor and a diffuser placed close to the sensor. Each point in the world maps to a unique pseudorandom pattern on the spectral filter array, which encodes multiplexed spatio-spectral information. By solving a sparsity-constrained inverse problem, we recover the hyperspectral volume with sub-super-pixel resolution. Our hyperspectral imaging framework is flexible and can be designed with contiguous or non-contiguous spectral filters that can be chosen for a given application. We provide theory for system design, demonstrate a prototype device, and present experimental results with high spatio-spectral resolution.