A digital bolometer architecture provides dynamic control of a simultaneous integration time for all pixels, with a temporal response that is more uniform than conventional bolometers and lacks frame cross-talk from decay tails, and which supports sub-frame measurement for on readout computational imaging. This is accomplished by replacing resistive pixel temperature sensing with continuous optical interferometric measurement and subsequent signal accumulation. Balanced reference sensors allow rejection of temperature differences across the thermal sink. The thermal time constant of the pixels is substantially reduced and the lost SNR is recovered by integration of the measured signals, using a programmable integration time.