Acousto-optic video spectrometer

At the Scientific Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the technology of acousto-optic filtration of optical radiation is used to create a wide class of optical devices that are successfully used, for example, in biomedicine to diagnose various diseases (including oncology), in agriculture to diagnose the condition of plants, during non-destructive testing of complex technical objects and in solving other tasks.
Acousto-optics has a number of important advantages over other technologies for obtaining spectral information:
- the ability to create imaging devices without spatial scanning, since the acousto-optic filter is a software-controlled tunable light filter;
- the compact modular design allows the acousto-optic filter to be integrated into the optical circuit of most imaging devices, which expands their analytical capabilities;
- spectrum scanning is carried out by means of an electrical signal, without mechanical scanning;
- fast arbitrary spectral addressing causes high shooting speed and the absence of redundant information;
- software management.
The key element of the presented device – an acousto–optic filter - is being developed at the Scientific Research Center of the UP RAS on the basis of original calculation methods. The manufacture of acousto-optic filters, optical and mechanical components, as well as the assembly, tuning, and calibration of such devices is also carried out at the Scientific Research Center of the UP RAS.