Integrated lithium niobate photonics for sub-ångström snapshot spectroscopy

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Spectroscopy
• Material Science
• Astrophysics

Background:

• Spectroscopy is crucial for material analysis but faces limitations in spectral resolution and optical transmittance.
• Conventional techniques using slits or gratings create a trade-off between sensitivity and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce RAFAEL, a sub-ångström ultra-high-transmittance snapshot spectroscopic technique.
• To overcome the limitations of conventional spectroscopic methods by integrating reconfigurable photonics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized bulk lithium niobate as an interference mask with pixel-wise electrically tunable spectral response.
• Achieved picometre-scale modulation with high optical transmittance.

Main Results:

• RAFAEL demonstrated 88-Hz snapshot spectroscopy with 0.5 Å spectral resolution (R=12,000) and 73.2% total optical transmittance.
• Achieved a spatial resolution of 2,048×2,048.
• Showcased a ~100-10,000 improvement in observational efficiency in astronomical applications.

Conclusions:

• RAFAEL offers superior performance compared to state-of-the-art spectroscopic imagers, with double the transmittance and improved spectral resolving power.
• The technique enables capturing sub-ångström spectra of thousands of stars in a single snapshot.
• RAFAEL's high performance and integration ease can advance diverse scientific fields.