Heterodyne Spectrometer Research Articles

A highly miniaturized satellite payload based on a spatial heterodyne spectrometer for atmospheric temperature measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Abstract. A highly miniaturized limb sounder for the observation of the O2 A-band to derive temperatures in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere is presented. The instrument consists of a monolithic spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS), which is able to resolve the rotational structure of the R-branch of that band. The relative intensities of the emission lines follow a Boltzmann distribution and the ratio of the lines can be used to derive the kinetic temperature. The SHS operates at a Littrow wavelength of 761.8 nm and heterodynes a wavelength regime between 761.9 and 765.3 nm with a resolving power of about 8000 considering apodization effects. The size of the SHS is 38 × 38 × 27 mm3 and its acceptance angle is ±5∘. It has an etendue of 0.01 cm2 sr. Complemented by front optics with an acceptance angle of ±0.65∘ and detector optics, the entire optical system fits into a volume of about 1.5 L. This allows us to fly this instrument on a 3- or 6-unit CubeSat. The vertical field of view of the instrument is about 60 km at the Earth's limb when operated in a typical low Earth orbit. Integration times to obtain an entire altitude profile of nighttime temperatures are on the order of 1 min for a vertical resolution of 1.5 km and a random noise level of about 1.5 K. Daytime integration times are 1 order of magnitude shorter. This work presents the design parameters of the optics and a radiometric assessment of the instrument. Furthermore, it gives an overview of the required characterization and calibration steps. This includes the characterization of image distortions in the different parts of the optics, visibility, and phase determination as well as flat fielding.

Design and modeling of a tunable spatial heterodyne spectrometer for emission line studies

Spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (SHS) is an interferometric technique similar to the Fourier transform spectroscopy with heritage from the Michelson interferometer. An imaging detector is used at the output of an SHS to record the spatially heterodyned interference pattern. The spectrum of the source is obtained by Fourier transforming the recorded interferogram. The merits of the SHS—its design, including the absence of moving parts, compactness, high throughput, high SNR, and instantaneous spectral measurements—make it suitable for space as well as for ground observatories. The small bandwidth limitation of the SHS can be overcome by building it in tunable configuration [tunable spatial heterodyne spectrometer (TSHS)]. We describe the design, development, and simulation of a TSHS in refractive configuration suitable for optical wavelength regime. Here we use a beam splitter to split the incoming light compared with all-reflective SHS where a reflective grating does the beam splitting. Hence, the alignment of this instrument is simple compared with all-reflective SHS where a fold mirror and a roof mirror are used to combine the beam. This instrument is intended to study faint diffuse extended celestial objects with a resolving power above 20,000 and can cover a wavelength range from 350 to 700 nm by tuning. It is compact and rugged compared with other instruments having similar configurations.

Fabrication of a silica-based complex Fourier-transform integrated-optic spatial heterodyne spectrometer incorporating 120° optical hybrid couplers.

We demonstrate a silica-based planar waveguide spatial heterodyne spectrometer incorporating 120° optical hybrid 3×3 MMI couplers as the output couplers in 32 MZIs, which enabled us to derive the spectrum without use of the previously reported dynamic phase shifting. The free spectral range was 640GHz, and the spectral resolution was 14GHz. We used a CO2 laser irradiation method to calibrate the light powers from all the output ports of the couplers and to measure the optical phases and amplitudes at the individual MZIs. We solved the resultant system of three linear equations at each MZI and performed a complex Fourier transformation to derive a narrowband light spectrum. The background noise level of the retrieved spectrum was 0.05 with respect to the peak even when no window function was applied.

Research on a Visual Electronic Nose System Based on Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer.

Light absorption gas sensing technology has the characteristics of massive parallelism, cross-sensitivity and extensive responsiveness, which make it suitable for the sensing task of an electronic nose (e-nose). With the performance of hyperspectral resolution, spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) can present absorption spectra of the gas in the form of a two dimensional (2D) interferogram which facilitates the analysis of gases with mature image processing techniques. Therefore, a visual e-nose system based on SHS was proposed. Firstly, a theoretical model of the visual e-nose system was constructed and its visual maps were obtained by an experiment. Then the local binary pattern (LBP) and Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) were used for feature extraction. Finally, classification algorithms based on distance similarity (Correlation coefficient (CC); Euclidean distance to centroids (EDC)) were chosen to carry on pattern recognition analysis to verify the feasibility of the visual e-nose system.

Performance Assessment of Balloon-Borne Trace Gas Sounding with the Terahertz Channel of TELIS

Short-term variations in the atmospheric environment over polar regions are attracting increasing attention with respect to the reliable analysis of ozone loss. Balloon-borne remote sensing instruments with good vertical resolution and flexible sampling density can act as a prototype to overcome the potential technical challenges in the design of new spaceborne atmospheric sensors and represent a valuable tool for validating spaceborne observations. A multi-channel cryogenic heterodyne spectrometer known as the TErahertz and submillimeter LImb Sounder (TELIS) has been developed. It allows limb sounding of the upper troposphere and stratosphere (10–40 km) within the far infrared (FIR) and submillimeter spectral regimes. This paper describes and assesses the performance of the profile retrieval scheme for TELIS with a focus on the ozone (O3), hydrogen chloride (HCl), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydroxyl radical (OH) measured during three northern polar campaigns in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The corresponding inversion diagnostics reveal that some forward/instrument model parameters play important roles in the total retrieval error. The accuracy of the radiometric calibration and the spectroscopic knowledge has a significant impact on retrieval at higher altitudes, whereas the pointing accuracy dominates the total error at lower altitudes. The TELIS retrievals achieve a vertical resolution of ∼2–3 km through most of the stratosphere below the balloon height. Dominant water vapor (H2O) contamination and low abundances of the target species reduce the retrieval sensitivity at the lowermost altitudes measured by TELIS. An extensive comparison shows that the TELIS profiles are consistent with profiles obtained by other limb sounders. The comparison appears to be very promising, except for discrepancies in the upper troposphere due to numerical regularization. This study not only consolidates the validity of balloon-borne TELIS FIR measurements, but also demonstrates the scientific relevance and technical feasibility of terahertz limb sounding of the stratosphere.

Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW) vapour in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from a high altitude aircraft: Modelling and sensitivity analysis

A spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) has been developed to measure the vertical distribution of water vapour in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere with a high vertical resolution (∼500 m). The Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW) instrument combines an imaging system with a monolithic field-widened SHS to observe limb scattered sunlight in a vibrational band of water (1363 nm–1366 nm). The instrument has been optimized for observations from NASA's ER-2 aircraft as a proof-of-concept for a future low earth orbit satellite deployment. A robust model has been developed to simulate SHOW ER-2 limb measurements and retrievals. This paper presents the simulation of the SHOW ER-2 limb measurements along a hypothetical flight track and examines the sensitivity of the measurement and retrieval approach. Water vapour fields from an Environment and Climate Change Canada forecast model are used to represent realistic spatial variability along the flight path. High spectral resolution limb scattered radiances are simulated using the SASKTRAN radiative transfer model. It is shown that the SHOW instrument onboard the ER-2 is capable of resolving the water vapour variability in the UTLS from approximately 12 km – 18 km with ±1 ppm accuracy. Vertical resolutions between 500 m and 1 km are feasible. The along track sampling capability of the instrument is also discussed.

中高层大气OH自由基超分辨空间外差光谱仪

中高层大气OH自由基超分辨空间外差光谱仪

Athermal planar-waveguide Fourier-transform spectrometer for methane detection

We demonstrate a passively thermally-stabilized planar waveguide Fourier-transform spectrometer for remote detection of atmospheric methane. The device is implemented as a spatial heterodyne spectrometer using an array of 100 Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) on an integrated photonic chip. The spectrometer is buffered against temperature fluctuations by using waveguides with a carefully engineered, athermal geometry. The achieved waveguide thermooptic optic coefficient is 3.5×10−6K−1. Effective entrance aperture is increased over dispersive element spectrometers, without sacrificing spectral resolution, by coupling light independently to each of the 100 MZIs. The output of each MZI is sampled in quadrature, to compensate for non-uniform illumination across the MZI input apertures. The spectrometer is validated using a methane reference cell in a benchtop setup: an interferogram is inverted via least-squares spectral analysis (LSSA) to retrieve multiple absorption lines at a spectral resolution of 50 pm over a 1 nm free spectral range (FSR) centered at λ0 = 1666.5 nm. The retrieved spectrum is compared against the Beer-Lambert absorption law and is found to provide a correct measurement of the volume mixing ratio (VMR) in the optical path.

Laboratory fabrication of monolithic interferometers for one and two-dimensional spatial heterodyne spectrometers

We report for the first time the fabrication procedure of monolithic interferometers for one (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) with ultraviolet curing adhesive and commercial optical elements. The interferometer alignment was achieved by a feasible alignment adjustment scheme under the conditions of monitoring the interferogram and corresponding 2-D Fourier transform for known light source. A fabricated monolithic interferometer was calibrated and tested using both artificial and natural light sources. Its performance was steadily near the design predictions. The current work provides technical know-how for turning a design into an actual monolithic SHS interferometer.

Influence of thermal-vacuum environment on the recovered spectrum of spatial heterodyne spectrometer

Thermal-vacuum environment adaptability is one of the key performances of space optical instruments, especially for hyper-spectral instrument, and spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) should provide high spectral stability for the detection of atmosphere CO2. Based on the research of the spatial heterodyne interference principle, simulation test in thermal-vacuum environment and quantitative analyses are carried out. The relationship among environment changes and the divergence half-angle of collimating lens, Littrow wavelength of field widened interferometer, different defocusing amount and pantograph ratio of imaging lens are analyzed. In order to verify the theoretical analysis, thermal-vacuum experiment is performed. The results show that the spectral deviation and profile are matched with theoretical analysis, and spectral stability is less than ±0.01 nm under the temperature from 19 ℃ to 21.2 ℃ by the substrates made of fused Silica (Corning 7980 0F). Quantitative analyses provide theoretical basis for the thermal control requirement and Littrow wavelength selection in normal atmospheric pressure.

Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI): Instrument Design and Calibration.

The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution imaging of the Thermosphere and Ionosphere (MIGHTI) instrument was built for launch and operation on the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. The instrument was designed to measure thermospheric horizontal wind velocity profiles and thermospheric temperature in altitude regions between 90km and 300km, during day and night. For the wind measurements it uses two perpendicular fields of view pointed at the Earth's limb, observing the Doppler shift of the atomic oxygen red and green lines at 630.0nm and 557.7nm wavelength. The wavelength shift is measured using field-widened, temperature compensated Doppler Asymmetric Spatial Heterodyne (DASH) spectrometers, employing low order échelle gratings operating at two different orders for the different atmospheric lines. The temperature measurement is accomplished by a multichannel photometric measurement of the spectral shape of the molecular oxygen A-band around 762nm wavelength. For each field of view, the signals of the two oxygen lines and the A-band are detected on different regions of a single, cooled, frame transfer charge coupled device (CCD) detector. On-board calibration sources are used to periodically quantify thermal drifts, simultaneously with observing the atmosphere. The MIGHTI requirements, the resulting instrument design and the calibration are described.

100 GHz Room-Temperature Laboratory Emission Spectrometer

AbstractWe present first results of a new heterodyne spectrometer dedicated to high-resolution spectroscopy of molecules of astrophysical importance. The spectrometer, based on a room-temperature heterodyne receiver, is sensitive to frequencies between 75 and 110 GHz with an instantaneous bandwidth of currently 2.5 GHz in a single sideband. The system performance, in particular the sensitivity and stability, is evaluated. Proof of concept of this spectrometer is demonstrated by recording the emission spectrum of methyl cyanide, CH3CN. Compared to state-of-the-art radio telescope receivers the instrument is less sensitive by about one order of magnitude. Nevertheless, the capability for absolute intensity measurements can be exploited in various experiments, in particular for the interpretation of the ever richer spectra in the ALMA era. The ease of operation at room-temperature allows for long time integration, the fast response time for integration in chirped pulse instruments or for recording time dependent signals. Future prospects as well as limitations of the receiver for the spectroscopy of complex organic molecules (COMs) are discussed.

Standoff Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) Using a Miniature Wide Field of View Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer with Sub-Microsteradian Collection Optics.

A spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) is described for standoff laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements. The spatial heterodyne LIBS spectrometer (SHLS) is a diffraction grating based interferometer with no moving parts that offers a very large field of view, high light throughput, and high spectral resolution in a small package. The field of view of the SHLS spectrometer is shown to be ∼1° in standoff LIBS measurements. In the SHLS system described here, the collection aperture was defined by the 10 mm diffraction gratings in the SHS and standoff LIBS measurements were made up to 20 m with no additional collection optics, corresponding to a collection solid angle of 0.2 μsr, or f/2000, and also using a small telescope to increase the collection efficiency. The use of a microphone was demonstrated to rapidly optimize laser focus for 20 m standoff LIBS measurements.

Spatial-heterodyne spectrometer for transmission-Raman observations

A new transmission Raman spectrometer has been developed using a spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS), taking advantage of the high etendue inherent in this class of spectrometer to maximize the light collected from the target. The system has been tested against paracetamol tablet samples. The instrument has been shown to accept light from 0.05 mm up to a 3 mm core diameter fibre bundle with a numerical aperture of 0.22, whilst no degradation in resolution is observed.

First performance results of a new field‐widened spatial heterodyne spectrometer for geocoronal Hα research

AbstractA new, high‐resolution field‐widened spatial heterodyne spectrometer (FW‐SHS) designed to observe geocoronal Balmer α (Hα, 6563 Å) emission was installed at Pine Bluff Observatory (PBO) near Madison, Wisconsin. FW‐SHS observations were compared with an already well‐characterized dual‐etalon Fabry‐Perot Interferometer (PBO FPI) optimized for Hα, also at PBO. The FW‐SHS is a robust Fourier transform instrument that combines a large throughput advantage with high spectral resolution and a relatively long spectral baseline (~10 times that of the PBO FPI) in a compact, versatile instrument with no moving parts. Coincident Hα observations by FW‐SHS and PBO FPI were obtained over similar integration times, resolving powers (~67,000 and 80,000 at Hα) and fields of view (1.8° and 1.4°, respectively). First light FW‐SHS observations of Hα intensity and temperature (Doppler width) versus viewing geometry (shadow altitude) show excellent relative agreement with the geocoronal observations previously obtained at PBO by FPI. The FW‐SHS has a 640 km/s (14 Å) spectral band pass and is capable of determining geocoronal Hα Doppler shifts on the order of 100 m/s with a temporal resolution on the order of minutes. These characteristics make the FW‐SHS well suited for spectroscopic studies of relatively faint (~12–2 R), diffuse‐source geocoronal Hα emission from Earth's upper thermosphere and exosphere and the interstellar medium in our Galaxy. Current and future FW‐SHS observations extend long‐term geocoronal hydrogen observation data sets already spanning three solar minima. This paper describes the FW‐SHS first light performance and Hα observational results collected from observing nights across 2013 and 2014.

Heterodyne polarization interference imaging spectroscopy

A novel heterodyne polarization interference imaging spectroscopy (HPⅡS) based on a Savart polariscope is proposed in this paper. The HPⅡS is modified by introducing a pair of parallel polarization gratings into the static polarization interference imaging spectrometer. Because of the introduced parallel polarization gratings, the lateral displacements of the two beams split by the Savart polariscope vary with wavenumber. The frequency of the interferogram obtained on the detector is related to wavenumber. Like the spatial heterodyne spectrometer where the two end mirrors in a Michelson interferometer are replaced with two matched diffraction gratings, the zero frequency of the interferogram generated in HPⅡS corresponds to a heterodyne wavenumber instead of the zero wavenumber in a non-heterodyne spectrometer. Due to the heterodyne characteristics, a high spectral resolution can be achieved using a small number of sampling points. In addition, there is no slit in HPⅡS and it is an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer that records a two-dimensional image of a scene superimposed with interference curves. It is a temporally and spatially combined modulated Fourier transform spectrometer and the interferogram of one point from the scene is generated by picking up the corresponding pixels from a sequence of images which are acquired by scanning the scene. As a true imaging spectrometer, HPⅡS also has high sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, the basic principle of HPⅡS is studied. The optical path difference produced by the Savart polariscope and the parallel polarization gratings is calculated. The interferogram expression, the spectral resolution, and the spectrum reconstruction method are elaborated. As the relationship between the frequency of the interferogram and the wavenumber of the incident light is nonlinear, the input spectrum can be recovered using Fourier transform combined with the method of stationary phase. Also, the matrix inversion method can be used to recover the input spectrum. Finally, a design example of HPⅡS is given. The interferogram is simulated, and the recovered spectrum shows good agreement with the input spectrum. In the design example, the spectral range is 16667-18182 cm-1(550-600 nm), and the number of sampling points is 500. The spectral resolution of HPⅡS is 6.06 cm-1, which is 12 times smaller than that in a non-heterodyne spectrometer with the same spectral range and sampling numbers. HPⅡS has the advantages of compact structure, high optical throughput, strong stability, and high spectral resolution. It is especially suitable for hyperspectral detection with ultra-small, high stability, and high sensitivity.

High performance 4.7 THz GaAs quantum cascade lasers based on four quantum wells

GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade lasers based on four quantum well structures operating at 4.7 THz are reported. A large current density dynamic range is observed, leading to a maximum operation temperature of 150 K for the double metal waveguide device and a high peak output power more than 200 mW for the single surface plasmon waveguide device. A continuous wave, single mode, third order distributed feedback laser with a low electrical power dissipation and a narrow far-field beam pattern, which is required for a local oscillator in astronomy heterodyne spectrometers, is also demonstrated.

CMOS-Compatible High Resolution Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer Based on Si3N4/SiO2 Waveguide

We experimentally demonstrated an integrated spatial heterodyne spectrometer fabricated on double-strip TriPleX waveguide technology. The TriPleX waveguide has a very low loss and tight bend so that the spectrometer realizes a high resolution of 0.023 nm across a wavelength range of 0.184 nm at 1550 nm in a small footprint of 4 mm × 8 mm. Moreover, the proposed integrated spectrometer combines the advantages of the planar lightwave circuit waveguide technology-based spectrometer and silicon-on-insulator technology-based spectrometer. The former has a very high resolution and relative high temperature stability while the latter can be implemented into a compact size based on CMOS-compatible standard technology. Besides, the wide transparency waveband of TriPleX waveguide platform makes it possible for the spatial heterodyne spectrometer to extend the working wavelength to the waveband of visible light and near infrared.

Multiple receivers in a high-resolution near-infrared heterodyne spectrometer.

The paper describes a modification of a high-resolution heterodyne NIR spectrometer described by Rodin, et al. in Opt. Express22, 13825 (2014), wherein the noise amplitude of the heterodyne signal squared was proportional to the power of the incoherent radiation source (the sun). The addition of a second receiver collecting radiation from the sun into a second single-mode fiber created up to a factor of two increase in detected source power spectrum. The ability to add uncorrelated heterodyne IF signals as Gaussian noise (variance) provides the means by which multiple heterodyne receivers of signal from an incoherent source can increase the detected source power by the same multiple, thus avoiding the limit imposed by the antenna theorem for a single receiver (A. E. Siegman, Appl. Opt.5, 1588 (1966)).

IR heterodyne spectrometer MILAHI for continuous monitoring observatory of Martian and Venusian atmospheres at Mt. Haleakalā, Hawaii

A new Mid-Infrared Laser Heterodyne Instrument (MILAHI) with >106 resolving power at 7–12μm was developed for continuous monitoring of planetary atmospheres by using dedicated ground-based telescopes for planetary science at Mt. Haleakalā, Hawaii. Room-temperature-type quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) that cover wavelength ranges of 7.69–7.73, 9.54–9.59, and 10.28–10.33μm have been newly installed as local oscillators to allow observation of CO2, CH4, H2O2, H2O, and HDO. Modeling and predictions by radiative transfer code gave the following scientific capabilities and measurement sensitivities of the MILAHI. (1) Temperature profiles are achieved at altitudes of 65–90km on Venus, and the ground surface to 30km on Mars. (2) New wind profiles are provided at altitudes of 75–90km on Venus, and 5–25km on Mars. (3) Direct measurements of the mesospheric wind and temperature are obtained from the Doppler-shifted emission line at altitudes of 110km on Venus and 75km on Mars. (4) Detections of trace gases and isotopic ratios are performed without any ambiguity of the reproducing the terrestrial atmospheric absorptions in the observed wavelength range. A HDO measurement of twice the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) can be obtained by 15-min integration, while H2O of 75ppm is provided by 3.62-h integration. The detectability of the 100ppb-CH4 on Mars corresponds to an integration time of 32h.