Wearable Spectrometer with Filtered Sensor

Abstract

Systems for spectroscopy are provided. Exemplary systems include: an enclosure; a tunable laser disposed in the enclosure; an opening on a surface of the enclosure; a beam splitter disposed in the enclosure, the beam splitter being optically coupled to the tunable laser and the opening; a sensor, a sensing surface of the sensor having a filter disposed thereon; and electronics coupled to the tunable laser and the sensor, the electronics including a processor, memory, and a battery.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for wearable spectroscopy comprising:
 a case;   a tunable laser disposed in the case;   an opening on a surface of the case;   a beam splitter disposed in the case, the beam splitter being optically coupled to the tunable laser and the opening;   an entire sensor disposed within walls of the case, and a sensing surface of the sensor having a filter disposed thereon; and   electronics coupled to the tunable laser and the sensor, the electronics including a processor, memory, and a battery.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the case is no more than 7 cm wide and no more than 3 cm thick. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the tunable laser is at least one of temperature controlled and in a transistor outline (TO) package. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the tunable laser has a power in a range from 120 mW to 1,000 mW. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) charge-coupled device (CCD). 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the CMOS CCD is back illuminated. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the filter is at least one of a thin-film coating, glass, and plastic. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the filter comprises a plurality of sub-filters, at least some of the plurality of sub-filters transmitting light at different wavelength ranges. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of sub-filters are arranged in at least one of a one-dimensional array and a two-dimensional array. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the opening includes one or more of:
 an aperture having a circular or rectangular shape; and   a window composed of plexiglass, mineral glass, quartz, and synthetic sapphire.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the surface of the case on which the opening is disposed is no more than 2 cm from a skin surface of a user. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the battery is a lithium-ion battery. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronics further include at least one of wired and wireless communications circuits communicatively coupled to the processor. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , the system further comprising a computing system, the computing system communicating with the processor using the at least one of wired and wireless communications circuits. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the computing system is at least one of a smartphone, phablet, tablet computing system, notebook computing system, desktop computing system, and cloud-based computing system. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronics further include a physical button disposed on another surface of the case, the physical button receiving input from a user. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronics further include a touch screen disposed on another surface of the case, the touch screen receiving input from and providing output to a user. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a band coupled to opposite ends of the case, the band coupling the case to a wrist of a user.