What is a spectrometer?
Q: What is a spectrometer?
A: A spectrometer is an optical instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Q: What is the independent variable in a spectrometer?
A: The independent variable in a spectrometer is usually the wavelength of the light.
Q: What variable is measured by a spectrometer?
A: The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also be the polarization state.
Q: What is the purpose of a spectrometer?
A: A spectrometer is used in spectroscopy for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths and intensities.
Q: What range of wavelengths can a spectrometer operate over?
A: A spectrometer is a term that is applied to instruments that operate over a very wide range of wavelengths, from gamma rays and X-rays into the far infrared.
Q: Why does any particular instrument only operate over a small portion of the total range of wavelengths?
A: Any particular instrument will operate over a small portion of this total range because of the different techniques used to measure different portions of the spectrum.
Q: What is a closely related electronic device to the spectrometer?
A: Below optical frequencies (that is, at microwave, radio, and audio frequencies), the spectrum analyzer is a closely related electronic device.
