Reconfigurable single-shot spectroscopy reaching 86 femtometers resolution.

Abstract

Single-shot spectroscopy enables the capture of an entire transient event within a single measurement, providing critical insights into rapid and non-repetitive processes across diverse fields such as biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, material stress analysis, advanced manufacturing, and telecommunication network fluctuation detection. Despite its promise, current single-shot spectroscopic systems are fundamentally constrained by an inherent incompatibility between spectral bandwidth, spectral resolution, and acquisition speed, limiting their versatility and broader adoption. Here, we introduce a reconfigurable single-shot spectroscopy method that offers full programmability over spectral bandwidth, resolution, and acquisition speed, enabling programmable navigation of the trade-off. By selecting optimal configurations, our approach compensates for the traditional limitations in spectral resolution, achieving a record-breaking resolution of 86 femtometers in the 1.5 μm band-comparable to state-of-the-art Michelson-based Fourier transform spectrometers. Leveraging this technique, we successfully capture rapid dynamic spectral fluctuations of phase-shift fiber Bragg gratings induced by both continuous (9 kHz) and sudden (0.1 ms) vibrations. This innovation broadens the application landscape and paves the way for the commercialization of single-shot spectroscopy.