Development of an Optical Spectrometer for Laser Induced Plasma Study Facilities

Abstract

A prototype of a miniature (13 cm X 10 cm) fiber optic spectrometer with USB communication is presented. This instrument, integrated to laser induced breakdown spectroscopy systems developed in the Laboratory of Laser Technology-IMRE, will make feasible the technology and software independence from commercial spectrometers makers and its imposed measurement outlines. It is composed by a Czerny Turner optical bench, a plane diffraction grating, an optical detector SONY ILX511containing a lineal arrangement of 2048 photosensitive cells, a programmable microcontroller PIC18F4550 and a random access memory. Microcontroller firmware was written in C language, using CCS 4.018 compiler. Information corresponding to the optic spectrum acquired by the instrument is sent to a personal computer via USB bus using virtual instruments programmed in LabVIEW 8. The calibration of the instrument was carried out with mercury and sodium spectral lamps. Copper, magnesium and lead laser induced plasma emission spectrum was captured.