Ultra-compact optical spectrometer based on silicon random medium

Spectral analysis is one of the most widely used analytical tools in scientific research and industry. Computational spectrometers can offer high performance within an ultra-compact footprint and have drawn numerous research interests. Previously demonstrated computational spectrometers typically consist of separate power-splitting components and spectral sampling components, which limit further reduction of the footprint. Here we prose a structure called random medium that combines the power-splitting function and spectral sampling function in the same component, which effectively reduces the footprint of the spectrometer and improve its performance at the same time. The simulations show 200 nm operation bandwidth, with 0.5 nm resolution, and a footprint of 0.006 mm² .