Inexpensive photonic crystal spectrometer for colorimetric sensing applications

Photonic crystal spectrometers possess significant size and cost advantages over traditional grating-based spectrometers. In a previous work [Pervez, et al, Opt. Express 18, 8277 (2010)] we demonstrated a proof of this concept by implementing a 9-element array photonic crystal spectrometer with a resolution of 20 nm. Here we demonstrate a photonic crystal spectrometer with improved performance. The dependence of the spectral recovery resolution on the number of photonic crystal arrays and the width of the response function from each photonic crystal is investigated. A mathematical treatment, regularization based on known information of the spectrum, is utilized in order to stabilize the spectral estimation inverse problem and achieve improved spectral recovery. Colorimetry applications, the measurement of CIE 1931 chromaticities and the color rendering index, are demonstrated with the improved spectrometer.