Cambridge, England (Commonwealth Union) – Spectrophotometry, which plays an essential role in taking measurements of biological substances based on the absorbance of light intensity, may move to the next level with Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI may replace optical and mechanical elements, as researchers have created an extremely small spectrometer shattering all current resolution records.
Light and colors are observed around us every day. However, analyzing the information requires light analysis with spectrometers. These devices identify sparkles and substances that our eyes cannot notice.
A global research group, including the University of Cambridge, designed a miniaturized spectrometer that shatters current resolution records in a much smaller package using computational programs and AI. The new miniaturized devices can be applied for a wide variety of sectors, such as inspecting the quality of food to analyzing starlight or identifying faint clues of life in outer space.
Spectrometers usually depend on bulky components to filter and disperse light. Modern approaches simplify these properties to shrink footprints, but still suffer from limited resolution and bandwidth. Additionally, on top of that spectrometers are heavy and utilize huge amounts of space, restricting applications in portable and mobile devices.
Co-author Professor Tawfique Hasan, of the Cambridge Graphene Centre of the University of Cambridge said: “Our miniaturised spectrometers offer high spatial and spectral resolution at the micrometre and nanometre scales, which is particularly exciting for responsive bio-implants and innovative imaging techniques.”
The technology opens up a wide range of options for expansion and integration, with compatibility with well-established industrial steps. This could pave the way for the future of next generation of smartphone cameras that advance into hyperspectral cameras that conventional color cameras are incapable of. Researchers hope their findings will bring about development of further enhanced computational spectrometers, with high accuracy and resolution, stating that the example is one of many.
