1. A method for temporal compressive sensing, comprising: a) directing radiation having an intensity from a source towards a sample or scene; b) capturing sensor array data for one or more data acquisition periods, wherein within each of the one or more data acquisition periods, one or more measurement datasets corresponding to distinct linear combinations of patterns of the radiation transmitted, reflected, elastically scattered, or inelastically scattered by the sample or scene are captured for a series of time slices; and c) reconstructing a time slice dataset for each of the time slices of the series within each of the one or more data acquisition periods using: i) the one or more measurement datasets captured for each data acquisition period; ii) a series of coefficients that describe a known time-dependence of the intensity of the radiation from the source that is directed to the sample or scene within the data acquisition period, or a known time-dependence for switching the radiation transmitted, reflected, elastically scattered, or inelastically scattered by the sample or scene to different regions of the sensor array within the data acquisition period, wherein the coefficients vary as a function of time slice and region of the sensor array but are independent of the spatial position for a given pixel within the sensor array or within a given region of the sensor array; and iii) an algorithm that calculates the time slice datasets from the one or more measurement datasets captured for each data acquisition period and the series of coefficients; thereby providing a series of time slice datasets for each of the one or more data acquisition periods that has a time resolution exceeding the time resolution determined by the length of the data acquisition period.