Multi-spectral IR reflectography

A variety of scientific investigation methods applied to paintings are, by now, an integral part of the repair process, both to plan the restoration intervention and to monitor its various phases. Optical techniques are widely diffused and extremely well received in the field of painting diagnostics because of their effectiveness and safety. Among them infrared reflectography is traditionally employed in non-destructive diagnostics of ancient paintings to reveal features underlying the pictorial layer thanks to transparency characteristics to NIR radiation of the materials composing the paints. High-resolution reflectography was introduced in the 90s at the Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata, where a prototype of an innovative scanner was developed, working in the 900-1700 nm spectral range. This technique was recently improved with the introduction of an optical head, able to acquire simultaneously the reflectogram and the color image, perfectly superimposing. In this work we present a scanning device for multi-spectral IR reflectography, based on contact-less and single-point measurement of the reflectance of painted surfaces. The back-scattered radiation is focused on square-shaped fiber bundle that carries the light to an array of 14 photodiodes equipped with pass-band filters so to cover the NIR spectral range from 800 to 2500 nm.