A low-cost portable fibre-optic spectrometer for atmospheric absorption studies

Abstract. A compact and portable solar absorption spectrometer based on fibre-optic Fabry–Perot technology has been built and tested. The instrument weighs only 4.2 kg and operates from 5 W of power from internal batteries. It provides spectroscopy over the range from 5980–6580 cm⁻¹ (1.52–1.67 μm) at a resolution of 0.16 cm⁻¹. The input to the spectrometer is via single-mode optical fibre from a solar tracking system. Spectral scanning is carried out with a piezoelectrically scanned fibre Fabry–Perot tunable filter. Software has been developed to calibrate the spectra in wavelength and relative flux. The signal to noise ratio in solar spectra is about 700 for a spectrum scanned at 200 milliseconds per spectral point. The techniques used should be capable of being adapted to a range of wavelengths and to higher or lower resolutions.