AiDi develops miniature spectrometer with sub-10-GHz resolution
Tsukuba, Japan--AiDi Corporation has unveiled a Fourier-transform, integrated-optic spatial heterodyne (FISH) spectrometer that has the ability to correct interferometer defects (fabrication errors) using electrical data post-processing. The company says its instrument has a sub-10GHz resolution.
The FISH spectrometer uses an interferometric Fourier-transform technique called spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (SHS) to measure high-resolution optical spectra with high optical throughput. AiDi has developed its own optical-waveguide SHS approach that uses an interleaved Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) resulting in a highly compact FISH.
The practical importance of the AiDi Fourier-transform spectrometer, says AiDi, is the ability to correct for interferometer fabrication errors in an electrical data-processing stage. The FISH method can then achieve its sub-10-GHz resolution, which is almost impossible with several centimeter-size bulk-optic spectrometers, according to AiDi. The spectral range of the FISH device can be made arbitrarily narrow or wide depending on the application. For visible color measurement, it can be designed to cover a 340 to 780 nm spectral region with 5 nm resolution.
Water-vapor characterization
For near-IR applications such as water-vapor characterization, the FISH device can measure absorption spectra with 0.05 nm (about 10 GHz) resolution in the 1365 nm region. Water vapor not only plays a central role in weather and climate phenomena, but in atmospheric chemical processes as well. It is crucial in the various processes that move air across the tropical tropopause into the stratosphere and the relative importance of these processes in determining stratospheric humidity.
"We are planning to develop this technology for both environmental and biotechnology applications, especially the study of global warming and early diagnosis of different types of diseases," says Kenzo Ishida, president and CEO of AiDi Corporation
AiDi will be presenting this compact high-resolution spectrometer at the 15th European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO) in Cambridge, England on April 7-9, 2010.

John Wallace | Senior Technical Editor (1998-2022)
John Wallace was with Laser Focus World for nearly 25 years, retiring in late June 2022. He obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and physics at Rutgers University and a master's in optical engineering at the University of Rochester. Before becoming an editor, John worked as an engineer at RCA, Exxon, Eastman Kodak, and GCA Corporation.