Super-resolution spectroscopy via spectrum slicing with a Fabry–Perot cavity

Abstract

Spectroscopy is one of the most powerful technical tools that are widely used in the study of natural sciences and the development of high technologies. To improve the performance of a traditional dispersive spectrometer, there is a competition between its spectral resolution and the geometric volume; a higher resolution is usually accompanied by a higher cost as well. However, a growing body of evidence suggests an urgent demand for miniaturized spectrometers with high spectral resolution and low costs. In this paper, we propose and study super-resolution spectroscopy via spectrum slicing by use of a Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity combined with a traditional spectrometer. The cavity functions as a spectral filter to slice into discrete pieces the continuous spectrum of the input light. For each given cavity length, the cavity outputs a set of sliced spectral pieces that are then analyzed and recorded by the subsequent spectrometer. By scanning the cavity length, one will have multiple sets of sliced spectral pieces that are then finally fused to recover a resolution-enhanced copy of the input spectrum. A theoretical analysis for the super-resolution spectroscopy is provided to prove the feasibility of the proposal, as further confirmed by MATLAB numerical simulation. The studied spectral analysis technique will benefit the research fields in need of high resolution spectrometers with moderate device volumes and low costs.