Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Sub-Department

College of Arts and Sciences

First Advisor

S. Michael Angel

Second Advisor

John L. Ferry

Abstract

Space exploration is arguably one of the most important endeavors our species has ever undertaken. Rapid advances in rocketry and robotics in recent years has allowed for positioning of complex scientific instruments on other planets with a precision that was previously thought impossible. This, along with the need for more sophisticated chemical measurements to achieve the goals of new, more ambitious missions and recent advances in in-situ and remote spectroscopic techniques, has led to a boom in the use of spectroscopic instruments for space exploration. However, future missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, along with other planetary bodies of interest, will require even more sophisticated spectrometers that are smaller, lighter, more energy efficient, and more robust. This work describes the development of one such spectrometer that has the potential to meets these needs, a miniature spatial heterodyne Raman spectrometer (SHRS). The SHRS is capable of high spectral resolution, large spectral range, very high light throughput (~ 200x larger than conventional spectrometers), and is capable of being miniaturized to the millimeter scale, orders of magnitude smaller than conventional Raman spectrometers. The ultimate goal of this project is the development of a millimeter-scale, deep-UV Raman spectrometer for eventual inclusion on a planetary lander. The work described here focuses on the miniaturization of the SHRS, and the optical problems and solutions associated with designing a new spectrometer of such small size while maintaining a performance level that is equivalent to spectrometers orders of magnitude larger.

Rights

© 2016, Patrick Doyle Barnett

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