Nanowires become smallest-ever spectrometers
50–100µm devices are small enough to squeeze into smartphones – but must first become easier to make into arrays
Researchers in the UK, China and Finland have produced spectrometers that are around 50–100µm long, which they believe are the smallest ever, based on single nanowires. Using the spectrometers, the team, led by the University of Cambridge’s Tawfique Hasan, spectrally imaged onion cells and part of the university’s coat of arms. ‘A miniature spectrometer has huge potential for consumers, as well as for scientific fields,’ says Hasan.