Question: How do you use infrared light with the DIY Public Lab Spectrometer 3.0?

haribhimaraju is asking a question about spectrometer
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by haribhimaraju | October 11, 2016 23:18 | #13550


I want to make a spectrometer that can detect what type of food is being held in front of it.

There are a few things I know already. To start with, the spectrometer cannot properly detect the food with just visible light, since the light doesn't reflect off the food with enough strength. That's why I wanted to try using infrared light since it passes through the food and can give an accurate depiction. However, it seems like the spectrometer in the Public Lab Spectrometer 3.0 Kit has an infrared filter. I'm not sure how to remove this. Does anyone know how to remove this filter and/or make the spectrometer work in some other way? Also, if anyone has actually used this spectrometer with solids before, do you know any other challenges that you faced with or without the infrared? Did you use the spectrometer in the same way?

Thank you to anyone who can help!



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Hi @haribhimaraju , it's great to hear from you!

This is a really big question you have asked, with many smaller questions inside of it that themselves do not yet have answers. My short take on your overall post is that "point and shoot spectrometry" is not a reality in the DIY space at this time. To begin breaking the overall question down into some part that might be answerable, what is it about food that you are interested in?

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Yes, it'd also be helpful if you could share any links or knowledge you have that you're working to reproduce in a DIY manner -- for context.

Actually I think there are answers to a number of these questions -- could you repost them as separate questions and we can try to help link you with the answers?

  • Does anyone know how to remove this filter?
  • Also, if anyone has actually used this spectrometer with solids before
  • In scanning solids, do you know any other challenges that you faced with or without the infrared?
  • Did you use the spectrometer in the same way? (can you link to some example or scientific paper for comparison?)

Some resources:

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