Spectrometry
upgrade:spectrometry

The Public Lab spectrometry project is an open source community effort to develop low-cost spectrometers for a range of purposes. All open spectrometry hardware and software efforts are welcome here! **Join in by:** * Learning [what spectrometry is](#Whats+spectrometry) * Reading about goals and [asking great questions](#Frequently+Asked+Questions) * Building a basic spectrometer using [one of our starter kits](#Starter+Kits) * Trying (and critiquing) our [community-made how-to guides](#Activities) and posting your own * Building on others’ work; hack and remix the kits to refine and expand them * [Share your upgrades](#Upgrades) for others to try -- and perhaps for inclusion in an upcoming starter kit release or add-on kit **** ## Starter Kits Public Lab’s Kits initiative offers several starter kits, including many of the basic components, and instructions for constructing a basic visible light spectrometer. The point of the kits is to provide a shared reference design for building experimental setups onto. Lego Spectrometer Kit Our most recent kit, incorporating community improvements while balancing low cost and ease of construction. Choose between webcam and Raspberry Pi camera versions and build attachments width standard Lego connectors. Build one Buy one Papercraft Spectrometry Intro Kit A $9 paper spectrometer which you can attach to a smartphone or webcam. It’s made of paper to reduce cost and complexity, and is mainly intended as an “introductory” or educational kit. The flat design can be printed on a laser printer or photocopied to make more. Build one Buy one **** ## Activities This is a list of community-generated guides for specific applications using your spectrometry setup (either a [starter kit](#Starter+Kits) or a [modded design](#Upgrades)). These [activities can be categorized](https://publiclab.org/wiki/activity-categories), and some may be more reproduced -- or reproducible -- than others. Try them out to build your skills, and help improve them by leaving comments. Together, we can repeat and refine the activities into experiments. > **Note:** If you are working on an **urgent issue** such as a threat to your or someone else’s health, please know that these techniques may not be ready for your use; it's possible that they never will be. [Read more here](/notes/gretchengehrke/09-29-2016/common-low-cost-technique-limitations) ### Activity grid [activities:spectrometry] **** ## Upgrades Have you added to your starter kit, improved it, or redesigned it? Show others how to take it to the next level by posting a build guide here: [upgrades:spectrometry] Add your upgrade guide here Request or propose an upgrade _Mods should include a parts list and a step-by-step construction guide with photo documentation. See an example._ **** ## Challenges We're working to refine and improve DIY spectrometry on a number of fronts; here, take a look at the leading challenges we're hoping to solve, and post your own. For now, we're using the Q&A feature, so just click "Ask a question" to post your own challenge. Be sure to add: * constraints: expense, complexity * goals: performance, use cases [questions:spectrometry-challenge] **** ## Builds There’s a lot going on in open source spectrometry -- if you’ve developed another open source design you’d like to show others how to construct, post it here! * [RamanPi](https://hackaday.io/project/1279-ramanpi-raman-spectrometer) * [Hackteria “drop”-style spectrometers](https://publiclab.org/notes/gaudi/04-03-2014/diy-micro-volume-spectrophotometer) / [DIY NanoDrop on Hackteria.org](http://hackteria.org/wiki/index.php/DIY_NanoDrop) * _Add yours here_ ##What's spectrometry? Colored light is often a blend of different colors. A spectrometer is a device which splits those colors apart, like a prism, and measures the strength of each color. A typical output of a spectrometer looks like this spectrum of the daytime sky, with the actual light spectrum at the top and the graph of wavelength (horizontal axis, in nanometers of wavelength) and intensity (vertical axis) below: [![sky.png](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/005/455/original/sky.png)](https://spectralworkbench.org/analyze/spectrum/19882) > Needed: overview of spectra, calibration, units, comparison, and fluorescence/absorption. Please edit this page or link to a resource, potentially [the Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy), although that's quite full of technical jargon. ## Software Spectral data can be analyzed with https://spectralworkbench.org to create spectra plots, find centers of emissions plots, and find similar spectra. Data also can be exported in various formats (JSON, CSV, XML) for further analysis and visualization. ## How does this compare to a lab instrument? The [Desktop Spectrometry Starter Kit](/wiki/desktop-spectrometry-kit-3-0) is only one part in an experimental setup, and the following shows where it fits in an overall diagram of a lab spectrometric setup: [![tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_101601_2-79757779.jpg](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/018/635/large/tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_101601_2-79757779.jpg)](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/018/635/original/tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_101601_2-79757779.jpg) [![tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_095939_2-108076392.jpg](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/018/636/large/tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_095939_2-108076392.jpg)](https://publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/018/636/original/tmp_31873-IMG_20161027_095939_2-108076392.jpg) There are many, many different types of spectrometry and spectrometers -- many don’t even measure light. Even among those that do, some detect light in the ultraviolet range, and others in the infrared range of light. The range of Public Lab spectrometers depends on the range of the commercially available cameras we attach them to (~400-700 nanometer wavelengths). A commercially available product with a slightly wider range (from 335 to 1000 nanometers) is [available from Cole Parmer](http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/Cole_Parmer_Visible_spectrophotometer_335_to_1000_nm_wavelength_range_analog_output/UX-83055-10). **** ## Frequently Asked Questions [questions:spectrometry] Note our previous Frequently Asked Questions page, which [can be found here »](/wiki/spectrometer-faq) -- please help port these into the new system, here!...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
jhondue123456 "https://www.google.com " | Read more » 8 months ago
liz "Thanks this is great! thank you @mdiego2798 " | Read more » almost 3 years ago
bhamster "Oh no worries at all, @mdiego2798, thanks for the photos, they are helpful! Looking forward to seeing the spectra you're getting :smiley: " | Read more » almost 3 years ago
mdiego2798 "Of course, sorry I didn't think about that. I just uploaded a couple of pictures of the spectrometer to help. As soon as possible I'll try to uploa..." | Read more » almost 3 years ago
bhamster "Very neat, thanks so much for sharing @mdiego2798! Is there any chance you have a picture of the assembled spec? " | Read more » almost 3 years ago
WendyJospeh "It is a good effort by you. " | Read more » about 4 years ago
EllenHarri "Wow, Good Project " | Read more » about 4 years ago
sialasad24 "Nice its great i like it its so useful for me and i got interesting information from your works... GIF MAKER " | Read more » over 4 years ago
liz "Thank you for sharing this great work @glenn_butcher , and for taking the time to credit and celebrate @stoft, a wonderful contributor! :smiley: " | Read more » over 4 years ago
glenn_butcher "This is a bit off-topic to the thread, but I want to give credit to @stoft for contributions from this thread to a project I've been working on for..." | Read more » over 4 years ago
programmer1200 "Yah I'll do a post about the cuvette holder , that will probably be more useful to people , the camera mount is nice and I like it but its not spec..." | Read more » about 7 years ago
warren "@warren awards a barnstar to programmer1200 for their awesome contribution! " | Read more » about 7 years ago
warren "Wow, this is such a cool post! Love your upgrades. Would you be willing to post another specifically about your different attachments? Thanks so mu..." | Read more » about 7 years ago
programmer1200 "Here are the files , if you have any question or issues feel free to contact me :) https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2660910 " | Read more » about 7 years ago
programmer1200 "Yah I'll happily uploaded them and post the links on here when I get them all together, This is the first time i've ever shared one of my builds so..." | Read more » about 7 years ago
stef "Also more detail, e.g. slit width, any other departure from stock to help others. Stef " | Read more » about 7 years ago
stef "It would be useful if you had given the thingiverse number along with your note. I'm interested. Thanks. Stef. " | Read more » about 7 years ago
abdul "Such an excellent, thorough post. Thank you for it. " | Read more » over 7 years ago
warren "Thank you Pablo for investigating this! Very helpful. " | Read more » almost 8 years ago
pablo "The files at https://github.com/publiclab/spectrometer3/blob/master/spec3-pdf.zip when opened in inkscape gives the correct size. " | Read more » almost 8 years ago
pablo "Reviewing the original .svg files I see they have the size in pixels defined, not in inches or cm. So it makes the standard conversion. Before ver..." | Read more » almost 8 years ago
pablo "Mmmm, weird! The one I lasercut is 23.5cm long, as it should. I just measured it. However, all the files I am looking now in inkscape (the ones I ..." | Read more » almost 8 years ago
warren "Hmm, interesting -- but are you sure the one you made wasn't mini as well? The Ponoko one I cut ended up almost exactly 19 cm long when assembled. ..." | Read more » almost 8 years ago
pablo "Hey @warren, I made a test and it does fit in a 12x24 inches board. See my file: lasercut-spectrometer-3.0-12x24.svg Note, funny for my to talk i..." | Read more » almost 8 years ago