Spatial-Mode Selection for Local Mineral Absorption Spectroscopy

Abstract

Absorption-band depth measures the fractional decrease in mineral reflectance below its local continuum. Recovering this feature strength for a small mineral region supports quantitative comparisons between regions, but diffraction mixes its light with the surroundings. Conventional spectral fitting can separate mean contributions; it cannot remove background photon noise already recorded. We develop a quantum-inspired measurement framework that uses spatial-mode demultiplexing (SPADE) to retain the target absorption response while reducing background acceptance before detection. The framework connects finite mineral-region geometry and reference spectra to estimation precision. A loss-dependent design condition identifies when adding SPADE exposure improves on direct imaging (DI) under fixed-response Poisson measurements with unknown scene parameters. Joint inference from initial DI observations and both mode ports estimates target depth together with an unknown, spatially shared background spectrum. In equal-time simulations that include localization uncertainty, alignment time, calibration, and detector costs, this acquisition reduces depth root-mean-square error (RMSE) by 14\%--26\% across five absorption strengths relative to all-pixel DI with the same background freedom. These results use a supplied target feature shape and geometry, with target continuum slope fitted and curvature fixed. The analysis separates optical selectivity from parameter ambiguity and acquisition cost, providing a quantitative basis for spatial-mode receiver design in local mineral spectroscopy.