![]() ![]() That’s only part of the story, add more apertures, thousands more. Diffraction of light is defined as the bending of light waves around an obstacle (aperture or slit), whose dimensions are comparable to the wavelengths of the incident light, and the spreading out of that light beyond the aperture. The basic question here is how do you separate light into it’s component wavelengths? Then how do you measure that result?Ī brief discussion of the diffraction is in order here to understand how a spectrometer works. They are used as analytical tools in R&D and manufacturing laboratories as well as in the field to determine concentrations of an element in substances, identify contaminants, check for counterfeit or illegal substances or objects, analyze biological compounds, identify chemical properties of compounds, perform medical analysis, and identify structural defects among a host of others. They can function over any range of the electromagnetic spectrum, but through design and selection of appropriate optical components, they typically operate in an application dependent region of the spectrum. That information is processed by a computer for correlation and display. They leverage light’s wavelike properties to produce a spectrum and then measure the characteristics of the spectrum, i.e., wavelength, frequency and intensity. The spectrometer is now a common scientific instrument used to determine characteristic information about an object and/or element (sample) through analysis of its interactions with light or of the spectral components of light sources themselves. What is the function of the Optical Spectrometer? These incorporate a wavelength dispersive element known as a diffraction grating covering light wavelengths from the UV to IR spectrum. This article is a discussion of a relatively recent subset of compact to miniature spectrometers that have enabled science to be conducted outside the lab for on-site analysis. Spectroscopy is a quiet revolution that has substantially changed and affected the way we interact with and better understand our modern world. Spectrometers can and are used in all of the physical sciences physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, metrology among others over thousands of applications in communications, energy, pharmaceutical, health care, agricultural, manufacturing, safety and security just to name a few. How we “see” this light energy is through an instrument called a spectrometer. Short wavelength light is high energy, while long wavelength light is low energy. Physicists classify light waves by their respective energy (wavelength), hence, the electromagnetic spectrum. Every substance and element interacts differently and uniquely with light frequencies, the resulting patterns act like their own signatures or fingerprints. These interactions are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed with light measuring instruments the qualitative analysis is used to establish the identity of a sample while a quantitative analysis is performed to estimate the concentration of a substance. Several types of light-matter interactions at the molecular level can be measured including emission, absorption, fluorescence and scattering. Spectroscopy is a scientific measurement technique that investigates and quantifies the interaction of a light source with matter. ![]()
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