Patent ID: 8537343

Claim:
A portable electronic device comprising: a housing having a length dimension, a width dimension, and a thickness dimension, the housing accommodating (i) a wireless communications unit that transmits and receives information; (ii) a display unit; (iii) an input unit that allows a user to input information or commands; and (iv) a processor (CPU); and a compact spectrometer that is physically integrated into or attached to the housing, the spectrometer taking spectroscopic measurements by forming a spectrum of light distribution on a detection plane from an input light beam, wherein the spectrometer includes: (i) a thin waveguide substrate having a layer that confines the input light beam in a vertical plane without confining the input light beam in a horizontal plane so as to produce a partially confined light beam that propagates in the horizontal plane over a length and width dimension of the waveguide substrate; (ii) a concave reflective grating surface along an edge of the waveguide substrate that disperses and focuses the partially confined light beam in the horizontal plane without focusing in the vertical plane to form the light distribution on the detection plane; and (iii) a detector that receives the light distribution on the detection plane, wherein (i) the spectrometer is arranged so that the horizontal plane of the waveguide extends substantially parallel to a plane defined by the length and width dimensions of the housing, (ii) the spectrometer is sized so that it has the same or smaller footprint of the portable electronic device in the length and width dimensions, (iii) the processor processes the spectroscopic measurement results; and (iv) the display is configured to display results relating to the spectroscopic measurement results.