High-Speed Electrooptic Spectral Scanning

A spectral scanning technique is described which is capable of spectral scanning in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions in times as short as fractions of a microsecond, with scan repetition rates of the order of a reciprocal scan time. The technique utilizes an electrooptic material to deflect the dispersed light in a monochromator past a fixed exit slit. Scan ranges up to two hundred times the theoretical resolution of the monochromator employed can be obtained in the visible spectral region. Results are presented for scans in the visible and infrared (2.7 microm) spectral regions using LiNbOa(3) as the electrooptic element.