A Silicon-Compatible Uncooled Compact Broadband Infrared Spectrometer
Abstract
Infrared spectroscopy is a widely used technique for molecular identification, yet its widespread deployment remains constrained by bulky instrumentation, cryogenic cooling requirements, and limited portability. Here we demonstrate broadband near- to short-wave infrared spectroscopy enabled by a silicon-compatible GeSn photodetector integrated into a compact digital micromirror device-based single-pixel architecture. By combining detector design with targeted optical reconfiguration and wavelength recalibration, we extend the operational range up to 2.4 micrometers while maintaining room-temperature, zero-bias photovoltaic operation. System-level benchmarking quantifies the intrinsic trade-off between spectral extension and detectivity in narrow-bandgap photodetection, yielding a specific detectivity of 1.12 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at 1.55 micrometers with an extended wavelength cut-off. We validate the capabilities of the obtained spectrometer through selective identification of representative commodity plastics, demonstrating a lightweight, low-power, and mechanically robust platform for portable and autonomous deployment. Despite the expected increase in generation-limited noise, access to strong polymer combination bands beyond 1.7 micrometers allows enhanced material discrimination. This work establishes a pathway toward scalable distributed molecular sensing and broadens access to infrared spectroscopy for environmental monitoring, industrial process control, and community-level chemical detection.
Related
- Silicon avalanche transition edge bolometer: approaching the thermodynamic limit for uncooled long-wave infrared detection
- Broadband Mid-Wave Infrared Imaging Enabled by All-Silicon Hyperboloid Metalens
- Identifiability and processing-chain-calibrated interval inversion of pre-AGC digital responses in uncooled long-wave infrared imaging
- A table-top few-femtosecond broadband extreme-ultraviolet absorption spectrometer with cryogenic cooling
- Calibration-Free Broadband Reconstructive Spectrometer based on Conical Phase Modulation
BibTeX
@misc{nomezine2026siliconcompatible,
title = {{A Silicon-Compatible Uncooled Compact Broadband Infrared Spectrometer}},
author = {A. Nomezine and G. Daligou and D. Vlassov and S. Assali and M. R. M. Atalla and O. Moutanabbir},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.03284},
eprint = {2609.03284},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03284},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Silicon-Compatible Uncooled Compact Broadband Infrared Spectrometer
AU - A. Nomezine
AU - G. Daligou
AU - D. Vlassov
AU - S. Assali
AU - M. R. M. Atalla
AU - O. Moutanabbir
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03284
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03284
AB - Infrared spectroscopy is a widely used technique for molecular identification, yet its widespread deployment remains constrained by bulky instrumentation, cryogenic cooling requirements, and limited portability. Here we demonstrate broadband near- to short-wave infrared spectroscopy enabled by a silicon-compatible GeSn photodetector integrated into a compact digital micromirror device-based single-pixel architecture. By combining detector design with targeted optical reconfiguration and wavelength recalibration, we extend the operational range up to 2.4 micrometers while maintaining room-temperature, zero-bias photovoltaic operation. System-level benchmarking quantifies the intrinsic trade-off between spectral extension and detectivity in narrow-bandgap photodetection, yielding a specific detectivity of 1.12 × 10^10 cm Hz^1/2 W^−1 at 1.55 micrometers with an extended wavelength cut-off. We validate the capabilities of the obtained spectrometer through selective identification of representative commodity plastics, demonstrating a lightweight, low-power, and mechanically robust platform for portable and autonomous deployment. Despite the expected increase in generation-limited noise, access to strong polymer combination bands beyond 1.7 micrometers allows enhanced material discrimination. This work establishes a pathway toward scalable distributed molecular sensing and broadens access to infrared spectroscopy for environmental monitoring, industrial process control, and community-level chemical detection.
ER -