Patent ID: 8098373

Claim:
A method comprising: illuminating a sample to thereby generate a plurality of interacted photons selected from the group consisting of: photons scattered by the sample, photons absorbed by the sample, photons reflected by the sample, photons emitted by the sample, and combinations thereof; passing said photons through a filter, wherein said filter is configured so as to effectively restrict the spectral range under analysis; receiving said photons at a two-dimensional end of a fiber array spectral translator device, wherein said fiber array spectral translator device comprises: a two-dimensional array of optical fibers drawn into a one-dimensional fiber stack so as to effectively convert a two-dimensional field of view into a curvilinear field of view, and wherein said two-dimensional array of optical fibers is configured to receive said photons and transfer said photons out of said fiber array spectral translator device and to a spectrograph through said one-dimensional fiber stack wherein said one-dimensional fiber stack comprises at least two columns of fibers spatially offset in parallel at the entrance slit of said spectrograph; and detecting said photons at a detector to thereby obtain a spectroscopic data set representative of said sample.