Miniature chip spectrometer opens new window on the universe

Miniature chip spectrometer opens new window on the universe
by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 21, 2025

Chinese scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking miniature spectrometer that combines ultra-high resolution with a wide field of view, enabling faster and sharper exploration of the universe than ever before.

Developed at Tsinghua University's Department of Electrical Engineering, the new technology - known as RAFAEL in English and Yuheng in Chinese - integrates a full spectroscopic system onto a chip roughly the size of a SIM card. The research, published in Nature, represents a major step toward compact and efficient instruments for astronomical observation.

Professor Fang Lu, who led the study, said the chip can record complete spectral data with sub-angstrom precision for around 10,000 stars per second. "Using traditional scanning methods, compiling complete spectra for all stars in the Milky Way would take thousands of years," Fang explained. "This chip could potentially reduce that time to under a decade."

The device also solves a long-standing limitation in optical science: the trade-off between resolution and field breadth. Using advanced computational imaging and reconfigurable integrated photonics built on lithium niobate, Fang's team achieved both extreme clarity and wide coverage simultaneously.

"The result is a snapshot spectroscopy with ten-megapixel-level spatial resolution and a sub-angstrom spectral resolution across visible and near-infrared wavelengths," Fang said. This allows researchers to detect minute wavelength shifts - down to ten-millionths of a millimeter - while capturing wide-field images in exceptional detail.

According to Fang, the prototype chip measures just 2 centimeters by 2 centimeters and half a centimeter thick, making it compact enough to integrate into satellites or deep-space probes. "Its miniaturized design brings hope for charting unprecedented spectral maps of the universe in the coming years," she added.

Beyond astronomy, the technology could find applications in materials science, environmental monitoring, autonomous vehicles, and precision agriculture. Field tests are already being prepared for installation on major telescopes in Xinglong (Hebei Province), Lijiang (Yunnan Province), and the Canary Islands.

"The study marks not an endpoint, but a beginning, showing how intelligent photonics can keep pushing the boundaries of what light can reveal," Fang said.