An optical signal is compressively sampled using an optical component to encode multiplex measurements. A mapping from the optical signal to a detector array is created using spatial and/or spectral dispersion. Signals transmitted by a plurality of transmissive elements of the optical component are detected at each sensor of a plurality of sensors of the detector array dispersed spatially with respect to the optical component. Each sensor of a plurality of sensors produces a measurement resulting in a number of measurements. A number of estimated optical signal values is calculated from the number of measurements and a transmission function. The transmission function is selected so that the number of measurements is less than the number of estimated optical signal values.