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arXiv · 2609.03284

A Silicon-Compatible Uncooled Compact Broadband Infrared Spectrometer

A. Nomezine·G. Daligou·D. Vlassov·S. Assali·M. R. M. Atalla·O. Moutanabbir
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Abstract

Infrared spectroscopy is a widely used technique for molecular identification, yet its widespread deployment remains constrained by bulky instrumentation, cryogenic cooling requirements, and limited portability. Here we demonstrate broadband near- to short-wave infrared spectroscopy enabled by a silicon-compatible GeSn photodetector integrated into a compact digital micromirror device-based single-pixel architecture. By combining detector design with targeted optical reconfiguration and wavelength recalibration, we extend the operational range up to 2.4 micrometers while maintaining room-temperature, zero-bias photovoltaic operation. System-level benchmarking quantifies the intrinsic trade-off between spectral extension and detectivity in narrow-bandgap photodetection, yielding a specific detectivity of $1.12 \times 10^{10}$ cm Hz$^{1/2}$ W$^{-1}$ at 1.55 micrometers with an extended wavelength cut-off. We validate the capabilities of the obtained spectrometer through selective identification of representative commodity plastics, demonstrating a lightweight, low-power, and mechanically robust platform for portable and autonomous deployment. Despite the expected increase in generation-limited noise, access to strong polymer combination bands beyond 1.7 micrometers allows enhanced material discrimination. This work establishes a pathway toward scalable distributed molecular sensing and broadens access to infrared spectroscopy for environmental monitoring, industrial process control, and community-level chemical detection.

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A. Nomezine, G. Daligou, D. Vlassov, S. Assali, M. R. M. Atalla, O. Moutanabbir. 2026-09-03. A Silicon-Compatible Uncooled Compact Broadband Infrared Spectrometer. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03284

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