Apertureless Spectrometer Soft-Aperture Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spectrometers are limited by the presence of an aperture, which degrades light quality and restricts the device's size, preventing effective spectroscopic analysis and miniaturization.
Innovation Solution
A hard-apertureless spectrometer design that employs a soft-aperture, utilizing a collimator, diffraction grating, and photodetector without a physical aperture, using excitation light to form a spectroscopic region on the target, allowing for improved light transmission and analysis without size constraints.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a physical aperture is used to introduce target light, then light can be directed into the spectrometer, but the aperture degrades light quality and prevents spectrometer miniaturization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the physical aperture component entirely from the spectrometer system. Instead of using a traditional aperture to define the light path, the invention uses a soft aperture formed by the interaction of excitation light with the target sample, thereby eliminating the component that degrades light quality and constrains device size.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical aperture structure with an optical field-based soft aperture. The soft aperture is created through the spatial distribution of excitation light intensity on the target, substituting a physical mechanical constraint with an optical field constraint that does not degrade light quality.
2Measurement precision
If a physical aperture is used to define the spectroscopic region, then light can be selectively analyzed, but the aperture limits light characteristics and degrades spectral quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical aperture with an optical field-based soft aperture formed by the excitation light distribution. This substitution eliminates the need for precise mechanical aperture positioning and structure, thereby improving spectral quality by avoiding aperture-induced light degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the target sample itself as an intermediary that defines the spectroscopic region. The excitation light creates a soft aperture on the target surface, using the sample's optical properties to define the analysis region without requiring an external physical aperture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach maintains spectral quality and enables the miniaturization of spectrometers by eliminating the need for a physical aperture, enhancing light transmission efficiency and reducing stray light effects.
Implementation Method 1
a collimator configured to collimate light provided from a soft-aperture of a target
Implementation Method 2
a diffraction grating configured to spectroscopically analyze the collimated light
Implementation Method 3
a condenser configured to condense the spectroscopically analyzed light
Implementation Method 4
a photodetector configured to receive the condensed light output from the condenser and detect a target characteristic
Data Source
AI summary
A hard-apertureless spectrometer includes a housing, a collimator configured to collimate light provided from a soft-aperture of a target, a diffraction grating configured to spectroscopically analyze the collimated light, a condenser configured to condense the spectroscopically analyzed light, and a photodetector configured to receive the condensed light output from the condenser and detect a target characteristic.