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Spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometers (SHRSs) are modified forms of Michelson interferometers, except the mirrors in a Michelson interferometer are replaced with stationary diffraction gratings. This design removes the need for an entrance slit, as is the case in a dispersive spectrometer, and removes the need to scan the spectrum by using a moving mirror in a modern Michelson interferometer. In previous studies, various SHRS variants, such as free-standing two-grating SHRS, single-grating SHRS (1g-SHRS), monolithic SHRS (mSHRS), and single-grating mSHRS (1g-mSHRS), have been evaluated. However, the present study exclusively focuses on the 1g-mSHRS configuration. The 1g-mSHRS and 1g-SHRS increase the spectral range at fixed grating line density while trading off spectral resolution and resolving power. The mSHRS benefits from increased rigidity, lack of moving parts, and reduced footprint. In this study, we investigate how the choice of detector impacts the performance of the 1g-mSHRS system, with a specific focus on evaluating the performance of three types of cameras: charged-coupled device (CCD), intensified CCD (ICCD), and complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) cameras. These systems were evaluated using geological, organic, and inorganic samples using a 532 nm continuous wave laser for the CMOS and CCD cameras, and a 532 nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet pulsed laser for the ICCD camera. The footprint of the 1g-mSHRS was 3.5 × 3.5 × 2.5 cm³with a mass of 272 g or 80 g, depending on whether the monolith housing is included or not. We found that increasing the number of pixels utilized along the x-axis of the camera increases fringe visibility (FV) and optimizes the resolution (by capturing the entirety of the grating and magnifying the fringes). The number of pixels utilized in the y-axis, chip size, and dimensions, affect the signal-to-noise ratio of the systems. Additionally, we discuss the effect of pixel pitch on the recovery of Fizeau fringes, including the relationship between the Nyquist frequency, aliasing, and FV.

 

A monolithic spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometer (mSHRS) is described, where the optical components of the spectrometer are bonded to make a small, stable, one-piece structure. This builds on previous work, where we described bench top spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometers (SHRS), developed for planetary spacecraft and rovers. The SHRS is based on a fixed grating spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) that offers high spectral resolution and high light throughput in a small footprint. The resolution of the SHS is not dependent on a slit, and high resolution can be realized without using long focal length dispersing optics since it is not a dispersive device. Thus, the SHS can be used as a component in a compact Raman spectrometer with high spectral resolution and a large spectral range using a standard 1024 element charge-coupled device. Since the resolution of the SHRS is not dependent on a long optical path, it is amenable to the use of monolithic construction techniques to make a compact and robust device. In this paper, we describe the use of two different monolithic SHSs (mSHSs), with Littrow wavelengths of 531.6 nm and 541.05 nm, each about 3.5 × 3.5 × 2.5 cm in size and weighing about 80 g, in a Raman spectrometer that provides ∼3500 cm −1 spectral range with 4–5 cm −1 and 8–9 cm −1 resolution, for 600 grooves/mm and 150 grooves/mm grating-based mSHS devices, respectively. In this proof of concept paper, the stability, spectral resolution, spectral range, and signal-to-noise ratio of the mSHRS spectrometers are compared to our bench top SHRS that uses free-standing optics, and signal to noise comparisons are also made to a Kaiser Holospec f/1.8 Raman spectrometer. 

A spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometer (SHRS), constructed using a modular optical cage and lens tube system, is described for use with a commercial silica and a custom single-crystal (SC) sapphire fiber Raman probe. The utility of these fiber-coupled SHRS chemical sensors is demonstrated using 532 nm laser excitation for acquiring Raman measurements of solid (sulfur) and liquid (cyclohexane) Raman standards as well as real-world, plastic-bonded explosives (PBX) comprising 1,3,5- triamino- 2,4,6- trinitrobenzene (TATB) and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) energetic materials. The SHRS is a fixed grating-based dispersive interferometer equipped with an array detector. Each Raman spectrum was extracted from its corresponding fringe image (i.e., interferogram) using a Fourier transform method. Raman measurements were acquired with the SHRS Littrow wavelength set at the laser excitation wavelength over a spectral range of ∼1750 cm⁻¹with a spectral resolution of ∼8 cm⁻¹for sapphire and ∼10 cm⁻¹for silica fiber probes. The large aperture of the SHRS allows much larger fiber diameters to be used without degrading spectral resolution as demonstrated with the larger sapphire collection fiber diameter (330 μm) compared to the silica fiber (100 μm). Unlike the dual silica fiber Raman probe, the dual sapphire fiber Raman probe did not include filtering at the fiber probe tip nearest the sample. Even so, SC sapphire fiber probe measurements produced less background than silica fibers allowing Raman measurements as close as ∼85 cm⁻¹to the excitation laser. Despite the short lengths of sapphire fiber used to construct the sapphire probe, well-defined, sharp sapphire Raman bands at 420, 580, and 750 cm⁻¹were observed in the SHRS spectra of cyclohexane and the highly fluorescent HMX-based PBX. SHRS measurements of the latter produced low background interference in the extracted Raman spectrum because the broad band fluorescence (i.e., a direct current, or DC, component) does not contribute to the interferogram intensity (i.e., the alternating current, or AC, component). SHRS spectral resolution, throughput, and signal-to-noise ratio are also discussed along with the merits of using sapphire Raman bands as internal performance references and as internal wavelength calibration standards in Raman measurements.