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Review demonstrates advances in miniature optical spectrometer architectures and algorithms, highlighting a transition toward solid-state sensing in portable devices.
Spectrometers are essential instruments used to analyze the spectral characteristics of substances and are widely applied in detecting material composition, structure, and concentration. With the rapid development of modern information sensing and portable-device technologies, the miniaturization of spectrometers has become a key driver for their widespread deployment in mobile terminals, wearable devices, and edge intelligence systems. This paper reviews the latest technological advances in dispersive spectrometers, Fourier-transform spectrometers, narrowband filter-based spectrometers, and computational reconstruction-based spectrometers, systematically summarizing recent research achievements in miniature spectrometer development. This analysis focuses on three main aspects: optimization of optical architecture, integration of intelligent algorithms, and control of manufacturing cost reduction. It also explores strategies to enhance critical performance metrics such as volume reduction, power consumption efficiency, and resolution improvement. With the continued advancement of artificial intelligence, microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs), thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platforms, and metasurface technologies, miniature spectrometers are demonstrating significant potential across application domains such as environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and industrial inspection. This progression is driving a technological evolution from MEMS-based tuning mechanisms toward solid-state modulation approaches (e.g., TFLN/phase-change materials) and algorithm-defined optical hardware.
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Wei et al. (2026) studied this question.
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