How to build a DIY Raspberry Pi Spectrometer using a Picamera and Spectroscope.

[@jimc386]

Exceptionally clear presentation of a cool project. This is the kind of useful and informative high caliber project you would see in the Amateur Scientist section of Scientific American back in the mid 50's to mid 70's. The content makes this project accessible to people with a wide range of capabilities and experience levels. I cold easily see a middle school or high school student build this as a tool to use in support of a variety of Science Fair projects. I think it will also work well for many of us DIY experiments at home. Providing the source code and a quick tutorial on building the PY project is also very helpful to those who are just starting out or others that want to brush up their skill sets. I hope to see more like this.

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome! Thanks for your kind words! I used to read the Amateur Scientist over and over as a kid!

[@danriches7328]

Very nice! I built a spectrometer inside a CD-ROM drive case using a laptop USB web cam pulled from the screen and a cheap 1000 lines/mm grating. I've also just seen that you can get 13500 lines/mm gratings so I'll be upgrading it and adding the Raspberry Pi instead of having to use my working laptop. Cheers Les, great stuff as always!!

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome, thanks! Yep this should work with any physical hardware setup just fine. Happy hacking!

[@canwenot573]

Amazing project! This video earned you a new subscriber! I really appreciate the thought process behind this. Making scientific instruments more affordable by using readily available parts is truly brilliant. This personifies the spirit of open source in my book!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks very much! Totally! Knowledge should be free!

[@SnowcamoZ]

Nice! Just a suggestion: instead of reading the amplitudes from a single line of the camera image, maybe you should integrate over the image. 100 lines -> 10 x amplitude resolution, in theory. Either requires a good orientation of the spectroscope or an algorithm finding the tilt (not too hard).

[@LesLaboratory]

Yep for sure. A much earlier version did this, but I found it too slow. My particular need was speed (pulsed Laser), but if you were doing astronomical observations then integrating is probably a good idea!

[@hamjudo]

A little tilt allows OpenCV to achieve subpixel resolution when it is calculating the location of straight line intersections in an image. Tilt will help here too, if the system is limited by the optical sensor. Which is to say that fancy math won't help if the optics move around when the cat jumps on the table.

[@tybuckley7447]

Does this work if there’s smile and keystone errors in the spectrometer? Seems like it is dependent on the spectral lines being very straight, otherwise they will in effect average together no?

[@peepopalaber]

Ahhhh shit, here we go again ... *opens project list* .... *adds another point* Nice project.

[@3harath]

bro, can you please share your project list with us?

[@Maxjoker98]

I love tat the rPi has an RGB cooler, with heatpipes and all. awesome project.

[@LesLaboratory]

For sure! There's a huge gap between Green and Red that Laser diode manufacturers have been trying to figure out for years.

[@appabison8694]

Extremely important to obtain maximum fps in the program interface!!!

[@LesLaboratory]

@@appabison8694 indeed. I tried MATLAB in a really early version, but it was far too slow.

[@aps8446]

I love how dominant is that elusive, pricey 608nm, makes me hope for that WL to become available as direct diode in a near future

[@LesLaboratory]

That would be cool, and yellow as well!

[@aps8446]

Shrek green would be a good addition too

[@chronophagocytosis]

This is really cool. You know, one of the ways chemists use spectrophotometry is to estimate the concentration of a given compound in a solution, but doing that requires making a series of standard solutions. Particularly IR-spectrometry is uesd for identifying organic compounds, but doing that requires a library of known transmission spectra. Either way, you have a very powerful tool right there.

[@douglaspeale9727]

If the ability to take the difference between two spectra is added, it will be useful to characterize optical filters, color film, and the reflective properties of materials.

[@MrQuijibo]

I'm so glad I found this channel. Criminally under-subscribed but it won't be for long

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks, it is much appreciated. Yeah, the KZbin algorithm doesn't seem to be trying to push my content. Meh, patience and time....

[@SarahKchannel]

Cool I have built a Raspi Terminal with 7" touch screen, that is beside my light microscope... with Raspi cam mounted to the third ocular on the microscope. Now if I added a UV LED illuminator I could measure wavelength shifts etc of specimens !

[@sadiqnawazkhan3333]

This is very interesting Project. I think if we calibrate it with saturation absorption spectroscopy technique this could become a commercial level spectrometer

[@texasfossilguy]

have you done any work on this?

[@UReasonIt]

Very nice. I am working on getting an AS7341 specto-sensor working on a telescope. It has ok wavelength coverage for a cheap sensor. I have made a 3d printed mount for it that resembles an eyepiece camera. It keeps the sensor's entrance in the center of the optical train. Shooting for prime-focus but may introduce an ED 2x Barlow to give larger star images. I have an ESP D1 Mini reading the sensor and sending the data via MQTT for processing. I will be looking into getting a plot done soon after I get the optics/focusing sorted. Looking at making a focus mask to use in place of the sensor in the same type of mount.

[@WilliamDye-willdye]

Interesting project. Just curious, do you have a specific astronomy goal such as identifying certain types of objects by their spectra?

[@UReasonIt]

@@WilliamDye-willdye Long term, I'm looking to have a small on-the-scope sensor that can be used for quick spectral analyses. Short term, it's to see if I can get a working system for such data collection just on the scope. The AS7341 is the first device I thought would be a good one worth testing due to its bandwidth and cost. I did us an RGB sensor a few years back but never moved past an initial test due to the limitation on the sensor. I know this would not replace a real Astro-spectra setup, but it has been fun and the sensors are getting better.

[@LesLaboratory]

All sounds pretty cool! :-)

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

Thanks, mate. Definitely gonna make this to analyze the light for my plants

[@cyrilbrunner8019]

Cool!! Have you thought about removing the UV- and IR-cutoff filter from the Pi cam?

[@haroldemmers3678]

I had the same question --> can we upvote this question ? :)

[@canwenot573]

@@haroldemmers3678 I concur. It is a very solid question and I'm now curious about the answer. Perhaps he considered removing them but decided against it for some reason, and that reason itself might make for a good followup video.

[@jurgislll]

Bayer filter also might affect the spectrum, going with black and white sensor is doable with calibration. Hardest part in this DIY setup is intensity calibration since sensors might pick up different spectrums with different intensity.

[@LesLaboratory]

All good questions! I did not remove the IR filter, as the scope I am using was designed for visible wavelengths only, and my interest at the moment is the visible spectrum. Internally the spectroscope is a transmission Diffraction grating, plus a collimating lens and a prism (for a linear design) this is too much glass and plastic film for UV to make it though and would significantly attenuate IR. If you build your own spectroscope frontend, you could do whatever you like. For this you would need a reflective Diffraction grating to deal with IR and UV, and quartz optics as well. Yes, Picams have a Bayer filter. Jon Smirl on GitHub suggested removing this for UV work, and cited a paper here: www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/10/1649/pdf but it is not for the faint of heart! Also yes, you would then have to characterize the response curve for the Picam sensor, minus the Bayer filter. On the plus side, you would have a really high resolution B&W Picam if you sample the original RGB values as individual pixels. That, in and of itself might be useful to the Astronomers.

[@iliahborg7079]

Consider removing the CFA or using a monochrome sensor ;)

[@nganyong9904]

Wow. This is the coolest video I have seen all day!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Please like and share!

[@davidprice875]

Very cool project. DId you consider the smaller pocket spectroscope and have you done any flame tests. One of my interests is identification/verification of 3D printing filament

[@LesLaboratory]

The one I have was gifted to me, so I worked with what I had. The pocket version should work, with some experimentation. I have not done a flame test, but now it is added to my to-do list! ;-)

[@davidprice875]

A nice update to a cool project, Thanks for sharing.

[@LesLaboratory]

You are welcome!

[@gornistvo-8821]

Thanks Les, great project. Installed on RPi 3B+ and it runs ok ...

[@LesLaboratory]

Great!

[@tmartin9482]

Great project! I think I will build one and do some tests to find a suitable light source to make it a transmission spectrometer. Let's see if I can convince some chemistry teachers at school to do experiments on spectroscopy and photometry.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I am sure one of them will be interested in it for sure. Would make a great project!

[@albygnigni]

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for sharing! Btw, on the web you can find a lot of projects using webcams as spectrometers, most of them where from 2012-2015.

[@LesLaboratory]

Great! Yep, for sure, but I thought it would be cool do do it on the Pi with Open Source Software.

[@hullinstruments]

Holy shit man… It was just a suggestion 😂 When I left those comments and suggestions I didn’t think you would drop everything and do this as your next video! But I’m not complaining because this is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’m so happy you made this! That’s the reason I left those comments because I knew you would design this thing perfectly and I’ve been ready for a good and polished DIY spectrometer design for a long time!

[@LesLaboratory]

LOL chill! It was already in the pipeline for some time as I need a tool to measure the tuning curves of the homemade Dye Laser (upcoming video ;-) ) Besides, although there is plenty of x86 Windows software kicking about, nobody seemed to have written software to do this on the Pi, so I figured, why not, it seemed like a good idea! Also Raspberry Pi's are just awesome. You are welcome! It seems pretty popular on here too.

[@EvertvanIngen]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 this made my day

[@kidshealthcarerocks]

Thanks!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks so much!

[@TerryLawrence001]

Awesome Project and very nice presentation!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Hope you guys find it useful!

[@googlefuuplayad9055]

4:23 Dog in the Background likes the beautiful Spectrum...🐶🐕🐕 me2 Nice Video 👍Thx

[@LesLaboratory]

:-D all creatures love Spectra :-)

[@googlefuuplayad9055]

@@LesLaboratory oh Yes..everyone is stunned by such a miraculous appearance... Have a nice week, keep going with this nice videos and Stay Safe! 👍 Greetz from Germany Ps: give me that mnl 100...instantly!!! 😁😋

[@oceanz55]

This is fantastic and exactly what I needed... you now have another subscriber! Thanks Les!

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome, thanks! More to come!

[@SwissPGO]

Would see additional value in integrating detector response curve... currently it is only calibrated for wavelength, not intensity. I agree, that is much more difficult to achieve though.

[@TheMAggi99]

Good idea. For this, one will need the quantum efficency curve from the camera. But I m not sure the manufacturer has measured it for such a cheap camera. Also, the camera uses a bayer matrix, which means there are red, green and blue pixels. These have to be callibrated individually. So i guess it is easier to look for a monochrome sensor with a quantum efficency curve available.

[@SwissPGO]

@@TheMAggi99 Definitely going black and white sensor is a good option. In my young days when still doing detector work, I removed the glass protective plates in front of the ccd array: you can buy 50 of them on the cheap (and break several off them while improving your methods), compared to only one equipped with a quarz window. I was dealing with soft x-rays lasers, and these tend to actually increase the dark current of your pixels over time, burning the camera chip, even at low average (but high peak) intensity.

[@justin.campbell]

Congrats on 1k subscribers! This is a really cool project, very useful. Would be cool to make a briefcase style case with an lcd and put a fiber connector or something on the input.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks Justin! For sure. I deliberately made the GUI small enough that is should fit on most decent LCD modules you can get for the Pi (clicking the graph on a touchscreen would be a pain, but there are ways around that!). A Desktop instrument would be pretty sweet!

[@marcspeer1486]

Just thanks. Made the world better - kudos

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome! You are welcome!

[@olafmarzocchi6194]

How do you calibrate amplitude (height)? which source could be used with a known curve? For example, I think a calibrated amplitude is needed to calculate CRI for light sources

[@olafmarzocchi6194]

@@TheOleHermit that part is clear, I'm suggesting to introduce a second calibration for the amplitude

[@nialltracey2599]

Have you played around with the Pi NoIR camera? Just a Pi camera without the IR filter -- seems like it would be useful for spectroscopy.

[@LesLaboratory]

I have tried one and can see a little way into the IR, but I haven't fully tested it yet. I have another NoIR cam on order at the moment, as I sacrificed the one I have for an upcoming video...

[@NatureCam2024]

Great project, thanks for sharing!!

[@joecobra48]

Good on KZbin bring it out or underrated people

[@DDryTaste]

Looking forward to the software fix! I was looking for something like this to test/calibrate my custom grow lights, this is really nice.

[@LesLaboratory]

Version 3.2 is up on GitHub, which temporarily resolves the Bullseye issues!

[@DDryTaste]

@@LesLaboratory epic, thanks!

[@lambda7652]

Nice! can you add calibration for relative amplitude? for example with a black body source.

[@attemm1]

Looks really nice!

[@HerrFrankenstein]

Kinda of cool... You could use it to measure color space and calculate CIELAB ( L*a*b*)... Sort out that sock drawer... Check a paint job... Color formulation... Quality control (if there is such a thing)... Cheers

[@andymouse]

Wow ! Please, any more info on software would be amazing, I'm blown away by this, if ever I needed an excuse to find out what RP is all about its this ! Wow ....cheers.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I will do a video on the inner workings of the program when I get some time.

[@helmutzollner5496]

Great Work! Very nice project!.

[@richgoza1956]

I think this project is superior!

[@pedrohervef.7780]

Simply Awesome!

[@Mr.Newlove]

Amazing!! Back in school I didn't end up taking a real optics class. Any recommendations for books or online resources for optics? If not for this video I wouldn't know what lenses to put between the spectroscope and the camera, or if I wanted to project a LCD onto a wall. I really need to know more about this.

[@MekazaBitrusty]

What a great project 👍👍👍

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks 👍

[@johndoggett808]

Pin hole camera to look at the sun? Might be useful for calibration.

[@LesLaboratory]

Either that or an ND filter and you can maybe calibrate from prominent Fraunhofer lines perhaps. Relative intensity is a different story.

[@trixit]

Awesome! What would be needed to make a spectrometer to measure something like 1200-1700nm spectrum?

[@ruairif5227]

Hypothetically could you run multiple instances of this for use with multiple cameras on the one rpi ?, is there an AU ledgend on the y axis ? Would it be easy to pipe this data through to another program which could act on the data say for monitoring cell densities during fermentation?

[@LesLaboratory]

Hypothetically, yes, but it would require a rewrite. The Y axis vals are AU from 0-255. Again, yes, but a rewrite would be required. There has been considerable interest in using data beyond the program itself, I am just pushed for time at the moment, but it is coming. With the number and types of request, I am thinking of creating a "suite" of small applications that will run on the pi Zero. One that just spits data out so you can pipe to whatever seems like a good idea.

[@ruairif5227]

@@LesLaboratory awesome, thanks for replying, your setup could give my work spec a run for its money, brilliant work

[@eridan3158]

Great project. Congrats !

[@Tony770jr]

Super nice project!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thank you!

[@AlexanderGosselin]

Great project!

[@astrowave]

This is really cool stuff. I don't use Raspberry Pis but I'm curious how the sensor is picking up IR/UV light. I am aware that CCD sensors have some kind of sensitivity across the spectrum, is this something that the software is able to work around?

[@alexanderm2702]

Great video! For those of us who are super-cheap, I wonder if it's possible to make a version that uses light reflected off of CD's or DVD's instead of the spectroscope. Maybe the software could transform the image as needed to reconcile between the CD and a real spectroscope.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! It should work with any home made spectroscope. So long as you can fit the spectrum in the preview Window. RPi4 is best for this as that is what it was deigned for.

[@ebrewste]

What a great project!

[@JerkerMontelius]

Pipe that spectrums to a tensorflow network and see if you can make it to recognize diffrent waveforms.

[@LesLaboratory]

That could make a pretty cool project!

[@brianwesley28]

EXACTLY what I have in mind. Material identification with a Jetson Nano, if possible. If not, another SBC. Same idea. That's exactly why I'm here.

[@mastershooter64]

I'd love to see if you can actually find out the emission and absorption spectrum of actual stars, if you used a good telescope

[@ChrisBigBad]

Hi. I wonder if you could stretch the camera-image to match the graph. My brain was trying to match the lines to the peaks while watching and that would make it easier. very cool.

[@LesLaboratory]

It could be done, and it is open source, so you can modify it if you like. The reason it was not done is speed, large live images in OpenCV are a bit hungry for CPU and RAM, so I wanted it lean. I suppose I could remove a strip of video, say 20px high and 640 wide, and display that under the graph, that could look pretty cool!

[@greensheen8759]

Nice! I was just looking at the adafruit AS7341 spectrometer board earlier and this came up

[@bigsteve6729]

Just get the break out 😂

[@bigsteve6729]

@@LungsMcGee haha

[@RebelPhoton]

Can this be used for display calibration with something like ArgyllCMS? I guess a custom driver would have to be written, but it's the hardware adequate for this purpose?

[@LesLaboratory]

I have never used that software, so I am not sure whether this would be suitable. I think there are already miniature sensors that can do that at a fraction of the cost.

[@das250250]

How did you know the lasers were those values? I did see a test where the nominated value was not the true value as referenced from a calibrated scope. Is there a standard product where we know the true value that does not vary?

[@LesLaboratory]

He-Ne Lasers have very specific wavelengths. The common red He-Ne for example is 632.8nm, and does not drift with temperature like diode lasers. This makes quite a precise standard. DPSS Lasers, again these have very specific wavelengths. although the pump diode (808nm) may drift, the Nd:YV04 lases at 1064nm exactly, and so the doubled light is exactly 532nm.

[@duncan94019]

Thank you so much. This is wonderful.

[@LesLaboratory]

You're very welcome!

[@aviationodyssey1892]

Hi Les I'm a newbie . Just bought the Raspberry Pi 4B (1GB RAM) because of your wonderful project. Unfortunately rpi can not boot using 2021-01-11-raspios-buster-armhf-full.img. It says the system is too old. So I tried the ver. 2021-03-04. Ok the booting is fine but when installing pip3 install scipy: "Running setup.py bdist._wheel for numpy - the computer almost freezes, it's not responsible so I can not finish the whole process. Any hints would be very welcome, thanks in advance

[@aviationodyssey1892]

The same situation when using Legacy (September 6th 2022, Kernel version: 5.10 Debian version: 10 (buster)) taken from raspberry page :( Still I cannot pip3 install scipy. Is anyone willing to prepare the system with the libraries installed so I could run PySpetrometer on my Rpi4 please? I'm willing to pay for your time...

[@LesLaboratory]

What is the pi foundation up to?! I will download the new image and see what can be done here. I was wanting to write new modules for it anyway! Thanks for your support!

[@LesLaboratory]

Version 3.2 now up on GitHub, which fixes the issues in Bullseye, (just tested with latest image). Let me know how you get on. The next incarnation of this project is coming soon!

[@fnegnilr]

Spectacular!

[@maxf8549]

Don't you mean SpectRacular? :)

[@naimulhaque375]

Excellent video. I was wondering how I can utilize the spectrum data. Since I can capture some screen shot of the spectrum, how it is possible to analyze the whole spectrum. For example, I want to see the color spectrum of a colorful shirt, how can understand what different colors are present in the shirt. Moreover, while we take spectrum of a white thing, its a combination of all color and show all different spectrum. How can we understand if the color is white or brown.

[@chelseastevenson6459]

this is fantastic!

[@jmadera_6]

Would this be useful in detecting what substances make up a powder or liquid? Like if you put it between the light and the receiver, would the change in what light passes through help to determine the makeup of whatever solution you put in its path? Like say for instance you had a few bottles of plant fertilizer without labels and your objective is to identify which is what and if any of them are mixtures, and if they are, what that mixture would be..... If you understand what I'm saying

[@LesLaboratory]

Yes. What you are describing is Spectrophotometry. You would have a light source aimed at the spectrometer with a known spectrum. This would pass through a Cuvette containing your solution and note the absorption spectra to make a determination of the contents. You might find with things like Ammonium nitrate, you would need to be able to detect quite far into the Infrared though.

[@jmadera_6]

@@LesLaboratory what about products like SCiO's NIR Micro Spectrometer? Too good to be true?

[@sniper9961]

very nice! can this detect materials from reflections?

[@seebaastian]

dude, this is awesome!!

[@LesLaboratory]

I'm glad you like it!

[@TheChemicalWorkshop]

hm, what is the difference between cheap and expensive spectroscopes tubes thingies? also what about UV and IR? does it save the calibration? im interested, always wanted a REAL one but can't afford... so gotta build one that works-ish

[@LesLaboratory]

I guess quality. I have not bought a cheap one. UV and IR, are out of reach from the one I am using, it is designed for visible light. I have successfully detected NIR at 808nm with it, but the signal was small. You can always build a custom scope for it. It does not save the calibration, mostly because it is just easy to do, and chances are you will change it the moment you tweak the focus or something. It would be a trivial software job to save to a file, and read it back though. I might implement it in a future version.

[@TheChemicalWorkshop]

@@LesLaboratory hmm thanks for response Well out of reach for me for now But i'll keep the project in favourites

[@ichbinderroboter]

@@TheChemicalWorkshop Yeah, that could be super useful for DIY chemistry

[@friskydingo5370]

Amazing 👏

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks 😄

[@richardoates8103]

Great work!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@thunder46350]

Really cool project. Possibly uneducated question, would you achieve greater resolution by tilting the spectrum scope relative to the camera? My thinking is that if your sampling line covers from the bottom left of the spectrum to the top right of the spectrum you’d have more pixels to sample?

[@LesLaboratory]

Not really. The camera is already capable of much higher resolution, but the optics in the spectroscope are not really up to it. With a better frontend, you would be able to get sub-nanometer resolutions

[@thunder46350]

@@LesLaboratory thank you for your response. I hadn’t anticipated the spectrum scope itself being the limiting factor, but that makes sense.

[@leszekp]

Terrific project! Sorely tempted to give it a try. One thing I'd like to see is the ability to export the spectrometer data into a data file of intensity vs. wavelength, for further analysis. I was also wondering whether there was any way to remove the IR filter from in front of the camera, to extend the spectrometer's range into the infrared.

[@LesLaboratory]

Go for it! I can add that in, I'll add it to the to-do list. CSV should do for most stuff. You can get Picams with the IR cut filter removed.

[@LesLaboratory]

Done! V3 uploaded to GitHub! Also see: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mp6WqKKMhtVrjsU

[@bonbonpony]

How about an IR spectrometer, like the one that chemists use to identify molecules? Is it possible to make one at home? I was thinking on it myself for quite a while, but I don't have any ideas what parts could be used to produce a wide range of IR radiation frequencies that could then be filtered out by the sample, and what detector could be used for IR radiation from that range.

[@jamesmihalcik1310]

Very impressive, well thought out presentation and process. I so want to make this! Thank you so much! Subscribed, with the bell :)

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome thank you! Yes another use for the Pi! :-t

[@dagobertkrikelin1587]

Fantastic stuff!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@benjaminmiller3620]

I need to build me one of these! Now it's my understanding that RGB CCD cameras have an Infrared filter in front of the sensor, because the sensor itself is sensitive to near infrared. Is it possible to remove this on the Pi-Cam? That should extend the working freq range. (And a monochrome camera would be even better, no RGB+(IR) filters at all = even better light sensitivity.) The colour data of the image can of course be recreated in software since we know the freq. (The only issue would be the possibility of orienting the spectroscope 180° out of the correct rotation if you don't pay attention.)

[@LesLaboratory]

Yep, you can also get Picams with the IR cut filter removed from the supplier if you don't want to do it yourself. Also yes, they have an RGB filter on the Silicon. It is possible to remove this, but it is not for the faint hearted from what I have read! Color data is not an issue. The colors in the graph are generated in code, and derived from the computed wavelength. An early version used the color data from the camera, but it looked awful!

[@benjaminmiller3620]

@@LesLaboratory Oh did you already have an IR capable Picam? Sorry I didn't really pay attention to the actual length of the long wavelengths in the vid. I imagine to remove the RGB filters, you'ed need to break a dust/moisture seal on the sensor housing, and then soak the bare silicon in a solvent to remove the mask, then reseal it; all without scratching it, or introducing dust or moisture into it. Sounds scarier than CPU die lapping! I agree, not for the faint of heart!

[@schumzy]

Thanks for making it with items that are available, the classic "I bought it off Ebay" is the most annoying thing to say.

[@LesLaboratory]

You are welcome, yeah, I hate unobtanium for builds like this, sometimes it's a necessity, but if it can be done with off the shelf parts, then all the better!

[@billyfrickinmurray6587]

I'm hoping to build something that can measure UV and IR as well. Basically 250nm-2500nm. Can this measure that much?

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

Very cool indeed, thanks for sharing, liked and subbed :)

[@LesLaboratory]

You are welcome!

[@emiliorivas9819]

Hey Les great video, do you think this could be used to detect chlorophyll in plants?

[@matthewtscott1]

Can you export peak values over a given time period to a CSV file for analysis 🤔 may be useful for monitoring water chemistry in a fish tank or aquaculture 🤔

[@LesLaboratory]

It already does his when you hit save.

[@SumUnicus]

I wonder. If you pointt it outside. Wouldn't there be more a lot more blue on the spectrum? Thanks for a Fantastic device 😃

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Not as much blue as you might expect. The sky only appears blue because of Rayleigh Scattering.

[@igorrutk]

There are cheap handheld spectroscopes on aliexpress (between 4 and 7 USD). Can they be used instead of the spectroscope you are using?

[@LesLaboratory]

Possibly! Try it, and let us know!

[@googlefuuplayad9055]

There is a laserpen telescope collimator kit in thingyverse, which has a nut for keeping the laserpen switched on...just turn this nut for switching the laserpen. Maybe helpful?...i Love it

[@LesLaboratory]

Cool, I will go take a look, better then a zip tie I imagine!

[@garrettfarrell2617]

Brilliant, well done. Is its possible to get an xy data file of the spectra?

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! It's coming in the next release (this weekend with luck). A few people have asked, so it will do CSV export, that you can use in other programs. Also, I have implemented a peak hold feature for pulsed applications. Stay tuned!

[@patnutoris4054]

nice work

[@ancapftw9113]

I wonder if you could use this to analyze the composition of soil samples? I was thinking of trying to use a specroscope to analyze the mineral content of. Rocks and soil near my house, so I can try my hand at refining metals.

[@LesLaboratory]

Maybe. I know the Gemologists use them for large gem samples. For things like soil, I'm not sure. You might have to suspend them in a viscous solution like Glycerin perhaps, or as a thin layer on a microscope slide (just a guess I'm afraid).

[@WernerBeroux]

Nice but sadly these camera cannot detect UV (IR they often can detect some). I wonder how to make it work for wider spectrum. Possibly fluorescent ink in a paper sheet. Not sure what range that would cover.

[@LesLaboratory]

See this video on how to change the Picam into a UV-Vis-IR camera! kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2Schn6LbNOciKc

[@mr1enrollment]

Interesting project. I wonder if this band would be useful to measure aqueous salts as in the content of said salts for maintaining a hydroponics system? I suspect, (I am no chemist), that shorter wavelengths would be more useful in that domain. Any idea? A broad band of light may be required also.

[@LesLaboratory]

Not a Chemist either really. My suspicion is as yours, short wavelengths. IR transmission of solid salt at least, is pretty good, good enough for IR Laser windows such as for CO2.

[@texasfossilguy]

the most useful range for chemical compositions are SWIR and LWIR as the bond lengths absorb IR light for different bonds.

[@Mp-jw1qg]

id like to take it a step further, and use 200-700nm grating for the spectroscope, and duueterium or another light that emits 200-700nm and modify the software to be able to calibrate serial dilutions in order to ID and quantify molecules in a solution. would you be open to working together or helping to get there?

[@bra1nsen]

it would be great if one could connect the pi zero 2 serial to the raspberry pi 4b for data traffic

[@StripeyType]

this is fantastic, and now I'm wondering if it may be useful for identifying steel alloys from their incandescence. I've got a couple milk crates of Mystery Steel and it'd be nice not to have to guess. ;)

[@LesLaboratory]

The steel would have to be heated beyond incandescence I think. Have a google at Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

[@nerdylicious1814]

should the lens have an ir filter?

[@LesLaboratory]

Not necessarily, it depends if you want to see any IR :-)

[@mackenziebil]

I love your channel and videos, so helpful for a laymen. I wanted to track down the two lasers that you used to calibrate, but they seem to be extremely pricey. You mention that diode based lasers aren't that accurate, is there another light source that I could use to calibrate that isn't that expensive? Thank you!!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yes, you can use old style fluorescent lamps. These have clearly defined emission lines that are are easy to look up. Regarding lasers: the 532nm green pointers that you can get really cheap are bang on 532nm and do not drift. The 405nm violet pointers are fairly reliable as well. All red pointers drift in wavelength quite significantly, and without spending $$ they may have wavelengths +/- several nanometers from that advertised.

[@mackenziebil]

@@LesLaboratory That's awesome, thank you for sharing your knowledge, I really appreciate it.!! I'll keep watching for new content.

[@genestanley553]

nice project...but I am building one not using the PI device. I am interested in the spectrometer but cannot read the label. The one I purchased off Amazon was just not good enough.. thanks, Gene

[@LesLaboratory]

i got mine from here: www.patonhawksley.com/

[@McTroyd]

Greetings from a HAD reader & new sub. I only recently became aware that it was even possible to build lasers at home -- my wife is concerned. 😁 Cool you were able to get that spectrum on a regular RPi camera. Would the NoIR cam variant help with the sensitivity at the extremes of the spectrum, maybe?

[@LesLaboratory]

Yes, the NoIR cam would be more sensitive. The Spectroscope I am using is designed for visible wavelengths though. The deepest into the IR I have seen is 760nm. To get a larger range, you would have to build the spectroscope frontend. UV is particularly problematic. Most glass types, and all plastic will absorb it. You would have to use Fused Silica optics for UV work, which costs $$$! IR should be no problem though.

[@McTroyd]

@@LesLaboratory Ahh yes, of course. You're working in UV... no idea how I got IR in my head. That explains the effort behind the dye lasers.

[@clipikt]

I wonder if this can be used for leaf spectral analysis or other agricultural use. Can the software be run in other os with python? Thanks!

[@Ragnar.Lothbrok.3.14]

Neat project. You got my attention with spectrometer, I've always wanted to use a metal spectrometer that can identify alloy percentages in metals. I think they use an x-ray as the most common type , could something like that be modified to use your design?

[@LesLaboratory]

What you are talking about is XRF (X-ray Fluorescence), which is a whole different ballgame, but fundamentally similar, it just uses X-rays instead, and a suitable Scintillator instead f a diffraction grating to detect the different photon energies. It would be possible to identify a metal with an optical spectrometer by vaporising it. This can be done with a High power Laser. Mars Curiosity does that: mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/instruments/chemcam/

[@meedcorrealty1800]

Hi, really cool project. you got a new sub. I'm trying to detect UVC light in a dark room, do you think this would work for that? thanks in advance if you see this!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! UVC is in the range 100-280nm. Unfortunately this is outside of the range of the spectrometer (designed for visible) and indeed the PiCamera, again visible (and IR if you have not NoIR version). That said, I am currently working on a possible solution to this, for the hard core hackers that want to look outside the confines of the visible spectrum!

[@meedcorrealty1800]

@@LesLaboratory oh that's exciting, i'll be watching for that update! Thanks for your reply

[@carlg5838]

This would be useful for quantitative and comparative work if there was a way to connect it to one of the powerful free spectroscopy packages, such as the excellent Spectragryph software. As it is, the graphing features are much like the many other DIY spectroscope projects out there that simply use a webcam. A few of the better designs can achieve similar wavelength resolution.

[@LesLaboratory]

For sure. Given time this software will evolve though. I have already added peak hold feature this week, and I m sure many other useful features can be added.

[@carlg5838]

@@LesLaboratory that sounds promising. I think it's simply a matter of assigning a specific serial data protocol that can be sent easily over USB or Ethernet to a laptop, or copying an existing one. The developer of Spectragryph has included all of the most popular commerical spectrometers to the menu, and a few amateur ones. As long as they have the handshaking and data protocol for 2 way communication in hand. The other usual option to be provided by the Pi spectrometer, in this case, would be to define a stack of multiple successive samples, to allow for time averaging of weaker and noisier signals. I don't know if there's any option to change the exposure time or frame rate of the Picam, but that would be another useful feature if it's settable in the UI.

[@texasfossilguy]

Im going to try to make it a datalogger somehow so that every 30 seconds it takes the max, min, and mean for the entire spectrum and saves to a comma delimited file based on time.

[@ricardomaggiore5518]

Great video. I have a question, I need to measure uv wavength from 320 up to 420 nm. Any suggestions? Is there any filter for the camera? Or a specific camera for uv?

[@LesLaboratory]

jonsmirl on github sent me this: www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/10/1649/pdf Worth a look!