TECHNICAL FIELD

The present document relates to optical spectroscopy, and more specifically, to channel dispersed Fourier transform (FT) spectroscopy.

BACKGROUND

Optical spectroscopy excels at chemical identification and is ubiquitous in the sciences as a highly specific and noninvasive probe of molecular structure. The integration of miniaturized optical spectrometers into mobile platforms will have unprecedented impact on applications ranging from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to mobile phones.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for optical spectroscopy using the Fourier transform that improve measurement speed, and relax the sampling rate and dynamic range requirements compared to conventional techniques. This may be achieved by splitting the input signal spectrum into a number of bands, separately analyzing each of these bands using a Fourier transform spectrometer, and combining the outputs to generate a final spectrum.

In an exemplary aspect, the disclosed technology may be used to provide a method for optical spectroscopy. This method includes receiving a broadband signal, spectrally partitioning the broadband signal to generate a plurality of spectral channel interferograms, computing a one-dimensional Fourier transform of a function of each of the plurality of spectral channel interferograms to generate each of a plurality of channel spectrums, and reconstructing a spectrum of the broadband signal based on the plurality of channel spectrums.

In another example aspect, an apparatus for Fourier transform based optical spectroscopy comprises a plurality of filters configured to generate a plurality of spectral channel interferograms, wherein each of the plurality of filters is configured to filter a distinct spectral portion of an input broadband signal and generate one of the plurality of spectral channel interferograms, a plurality of Fourier transform spectrometers configured to generate a plurality of channel spectrums, wherein each of plurality of Fourier transform spectrometers is associated with a corresponding one of each of the plurality of filters, and wherein each of the plurality of Fourier transform spectrometers is configured to compute a Fourier transform of a function of each of the plurality of spectral channel interferograms and generate each of the plurality of channel spectrums, and a circuit for signaling processing configured to reconstruct a spectrum of the input broadband signal based on the plurality of channel spectrums.

In another exemplary aspect, the above-described method(s) are embodied in the form of processor-executable code and stored in a computer-readable program medium.

In yet another exemplary aspect, a device that is configured or operable to perform the above-described methods is disclosed.

The above and other aspects and their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the descriptions, and the claims.

