July 7: MIT scientist developed a small spectrometer which can fit inside smartphone camera to detect diseases, skin disorders as well as to detect environmental contaminants.

Basically spectrometers are used to find the properties of light and are commonly used in, chemical, physical and biological research. These are generally too long to be portable, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed small spectrometers using semiconductor nanoparticles referred as quantum dots which can fit inside of smartphone camera.

These devices can be used to find skin diseases as well as to detect environmental impurities and food conditions. Quantum dots are discovered in early 1980’s, it is a type of nanocrystals, prepared by relating metals lead or cadmium with sulphur, selenium or arsenic.

Researchers are able to develop numerous numbers of dots by controlling reaction time and temperature of using materials. Those all dots have different electronic property called as bandgap, which can be used to determine the wavelength of light that each dot will absorb.

The new quantum spectrometer about a size of US quarter is made up with hundreds of quantum dot materials, where each one has a specific set of wavelengths of light. Then scientists developed optical structures by printing the quantum dot filters into thin film, and then placed it at a top of photo-detectors such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs) which are found in the camera of the smartphone.

Then finally researcher created an algorithm which can analysed the percentage of photons absorbed by each filter. This type of spectrometer can be used to detect skin conditions and can be used to analyse urine samples. These can also be used to track important sings such as pulse and oxygen level, and can be used find frequencies of ultraviolet light.