The Ever-Shrinking Optical Spectrometer: Applications in Consumer Goods

Spectrometers and multispectral sensors operating in the silicon detector region — 400 to 1000 nm, or the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) ranges — have been steadily shrinking in size and cost. They have reached the point of becoming economical to embed in consumer products. Crocombe briefly summarizes some of these spectroscopic technologies, then outlines existing and possible consumer goods applications. These applications range from smart home systems, kitchen appliances, and white goods — such as refrigerators and laundry machines — to personal health care and care-monitoring devices. In the home, spectroscopic devices could sense optical operation and customer preferences for appliances, along with environmental considerations such as air quality in rooms. In wearable devices such as smartwatches, sensors could monitor blood oxygenation and hydration. There are even existing ideas for smart toilets, potentially giving customers feedback on their health and eating habits based on in situ analysis of excreta. We can expect that smart appliances, devices, and wearables that employ spectroscopy will be widespread in the near future.

About the presenter
Richard Crocombe, Ph.D., is principal at Crocombe Spectroscopic Consulting. He works with both emerging and established instrument companies on miniature optical technologies and hand-held or portable spectrometers, and on go-to-market strategies and emerging applications for such instruments. He has worked previously at a number of companies — including PerkinElmer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Axsun Technologies, and Bio-Rad Laboratories — developing new spectrometers and their applications. He has published extensively on the technologies and applications for miniature and portable spectrometers, including a comprehensive review article in Applied Spectroscopy in 2018. Alongside Pauline Leary and Brooke Kammrath, Crocombe is joint editor of the two-volume book Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry, published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2021.