The new technology from Paderborn University can be used to implement a scalable, monolithically integrable Fourier-transform spectrometer with the necessary coupling structures, an on-chip direct reception, and an NDFT (non-uniform discrete Fourier transform) signal processing unit completely integrated into the chip, making the entire system much smaller and more robust.

The invention allows spectral analysis in the 400 to 2000 nm wavelength range by coupling the measuring signal directly into an optical input. A downstream optical splitter splits the optical signal into two waveguides with different optical properties. Optical couplers positioned between the two waveguides and in which the light from the two waveguides interfere route the resulting light signal to one photodiode for each signal (see Fig. 2). The photodiodes convert this resulting optical signal into an electrical signal. A downstream electronic evaluator uses NDFT to calculate the input signal’s optical spectrum, thus providing spectral analysis in the visible and infrared ranges.