Researchers from the University of Cambridge and GlitterinTech, a startup founded by the same research group, have unveiled a fundamentally new type of optical spectrometer that delivers laboratory-grade precision in a device small enough to be embedded in portable and wearable technologies. By rethinking how spectra are measured and processed, the team has demonstrated a spectrometer costing only around $10, operating at a centimeter scale, and capable of applications ranging from industrial quality control to real-time health care monitoring.
  • DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    22 hours ago

    Unlike conventional spectrometers, which rely on dispersing light or algorithmic reconstruction to recover spectra, the convolutional spectrometer physically performs a convolution operation on the incoming light. This is achieved using a simple cascade of optical components with periodic spectral responses, such as unbalanced Mach–Zehnder interferometers or micro-ring resonators.

    Is this thing a spectrometer or a fucking turbo encabulator?

    • Hacksaw@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      2 hours ago

      I literally went onto the comments to post this exact comment about that exact paragraph. Love to see another enjoyer of side fumble prevention.

    • davad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      22 hours ago

      I’ve worked with spectrometers and on spectrometry design before, and that quote from the article is intelligible. It’s also pretentious and poorly explained.

      • fonix232@fedia.io
        9·
        10 hours ago

        I’ve never worked with spectrometers but physics and chemistry were some of my strongest subjects, so it made some sense to me - but the sentence was definitely written with the intent to say “look peons, I know big science words you do not, and I can string them into a sentence you’ll question the legibility of”.