A Low-Cost Spectrometer Based on Stress Induced Birefringence

This paper presents a novel approach on spectroscopy using stress induced birefringence. The presented measurement set-up requires only a collimated light source, a transparent optical medium with a high photo-elastic constant placed between crossed polarizers, and an area scan camera or a line scan sensor. The spectrum of the transmitted light is calculated by solving a convex optimization problem using data from the emerging fringe pattern due to the mechanical loading of the optical component. In this preliminary work, a setup is presented which is able to measure spectra in the visible region of the spectrum. However, the same principle can be easily adapted for the infrared region.