Resolution improvement of grating spectrometer by using a tunable Fabry-Perot filter

Aiming at the problem of the resolution reduction in a miniaturized grating spectrometer, we presented a method to improve its spectral resolution by inserting a tunable Fabry-Perot filter into its optical path before the grating. The Fabry-Perot filter was designed to filter out a partial spectrogram and separate the original undistinguishable spectral lines so as to make their actual wavelengths can be detected. The different cavity length of the Fabry-Perot filter is corresponding to the different separated partial spectrogram. Combining all the separated partial spectrograms, an entire spectrogram with improved resolution can be achieved. Experimentally, the spectral resolution of a grating dispersive system was improved from 2 nm to 1.2nm in a broad spectral range by insetting a homemade tunable Fabry-Perot filter, which demonstrated the feasibility of this scheme. The tunable Fabry-Perot filter is fit for miniaturization by using MEMS technology and is able to work as an independent module. The method proposed provides a potential way to improve the spectral resolution without reducing the spectral range of the existing miniaturized grating spectrometers.