Plural electronic or optical images are provided in a streak optical
system, as for instance by use of plural slits instead of the
conventional single slit, to obtain a third, fourth, etc.
dimension--rather than only the conventional two, namely range or time
and azimuth. Such additional dimension or dimensions are thereby
incorporated into the optical information that is to be streaked and
thereby time resolved. The added dimensions may take any of an extremely
broad range of forms, including wave-length, polarization state, or one
or more spatial dimensions--or indeed virtually any optical parameter
that can be impressed upon a probe beam. Resulting capabilities
remarkably include several new forms of lidar spectroscopy, fluorescence
analysis, polarimetry, spectropolarimetry, and combinations of these, as
well as a gigahertz wavefront sensor.