Overview

• The few-square-millimeter spectrometer fits a smartphone and could shrink to a single pixel in future sensor arrays.
• Researchers tune a tandem organic photodetector by sweeping voltages under one volt to computationally reconstruct UV through near-infrared spectra in under a millisecond.
• Lab tests showed the chip matched the accuracy of conventional spectrometers and rivaled commercial photodetectors in sensitivity.
• The work is detailed in NC State’s paper in Device, highlighting the viability of bias-tunable organic photodetectors for portable spectroscopy.
• With backing from NSF alongside ONR funding, the team is moving toward embedding the low-power device into everyday electronics.