Quantum Dot Spectrometer, Year 1

Miniaturized spectrometers with no optics or moving parts offers an enabling technology for space missions. In particular, the tunability over a wide range of wavelength, from ultraviolet to infrared, and feasibility to make a hyperspectral imager will find applications in Earth Science, as well as Planetary Science. In Earth Science, it will find use in oceanography, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, cloud studies, aerosol studies, vegetation recovery studies and characterizing volcanic ash and flood. In Planetary Science, it will find use in meteorology, oceanography and atmospheric chemistry of other planets and moons. Miniaturized quantum dot spectrometer (QDS) is a novel concept that uses an array of quantum dot pixels. Varying the size or composition of quantum dots allows one to precisely control the absorption spectrum of each of the pixels. The array of quantum dots acts like a set of filters, and when coupled with a detector array can perform spectral measurements in a snapshot fashion, without scanning or switching filters.