A Spectrometer as Simple as a CCD Detector

Abstract: Spectroscopy is the most fundamental instruments in almost every field of modern science. Conventional spectrometer is based on the dispersion elements such as various gratings. An alternative way is based on the filters such as interference filters, plasmonic nanoresonators, or quantum dots. However, for any of the above two spectrometers, the high-precision grating or the absorption filter should be elaborately designed and makes it expensive. Here, we propose a third spectrometer principle-pupil diffraction spectrometer (PDS). Since the high-precision grating and the elaborately designed absorption filter are abandoned, the whole structure of the PDS is just as simple as a CCD detector. Thus, compared with the above two spectrometer, the structure of the spectrometer is greatly simplified and the cost of the spectrometer is sharply reduced. In addition, the PDS can ensure the spectral range and resolution simultaneously due to the reconstruction its reconstruction algorithm. A series of simulation results are shown to demonstrate the feasibility of the PDS principle. Further, the effectiveness of the PDS principle in the noisy condition is also tested. Owing to this merits small size, light weight, and low cost, we expect the inventions of PDS has great application potential such as putting on the satellite to perform space exploration, and integrates to the smartphone to realize the detection pesticide residue in the food and clinical diagnose of the disease.