A novel Raman spectrometer is presented in a handheld format. The spectrometer utilizes a temperature-controlled, distributed Bragg reflector diode laser, which allows the instrument to operate in a sequentially shifted excitation mode to eliminate fluorescence backgrounds, fixed pattern noise, and room lights, while keeping the Raman data in true spectral space. The cost-efficient design of th...

It is well known that the duty cycle of common drift-tube ion mobility experiments is often below 1%. However, multiplexing approaches such as Fourier and Hadamard pulsing schemes have been shown to independently enhance the throughput of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) experiments to levels that approach 50%. While challenges remain to their broad scale implementation we describe a new Fourier...

Worldwide, the access to safe drinking water is a huge problem. In fact, the number of persons without safe drinking water is increasing, even though it is an essential ingredient for human health and development. The enormity of the problem also makes it a critical environmental and public health issue. Therefore, there is a critical need for easy-to-use, compact and sensitive techniques for w...

The Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) has been conducting mid-infrared observations of late-type stars for about 18 years. A long-term set of diameter measurements of Betelgeuse at 11.15 μm shows pronounced changes in the stellar size over time. These changes may arise from variations in the opacity of the environment immediately surrounding the star. New instrumentation is being developed ...

Samples of the recent results of the Photonic Engineering Group of the University of Cantabria (PEG-UC) are reported. They are obtained in several of the ongoing R&D lines: on Bragg grating technology; on infrared thermography; on optoelectronic instrumentation and signal processing for quality welding monitoring; on fiber devices and sensors and, materials identification using spatial optical ...