Patent ID: 7852475

Claim:
A spectrometer for measuring a spectrum of light having a frequency range Δf, the spectrometer comprising: M input ports P m for receiving the light and relaying it to M source points S m , wherein M≧1; and m is an integer number satisfying the following condition: 1≦m≦M; an input scanning means coupled to the M input ports P m , for relaying the light from any of the M source points S m to an intermediate point, wherein in operation, a location x of the intermediate point is scanned by the scanning means from a value x 1 continuously to a value x 2 within a scanning range δx=|x 2 −x 1 |; a dispersing means coupled to the input scanning means, for spatially separating frequency components of the light in dependence upon the location x of the intermediate point of the light; N detectors D n coupled to the dispersing means, for detecting the light in dependence upon the optical frequency thereof, wherein N≧2; n is an integer number satisfying the following condition: 2≦n≦N; and each detector D n is disposed to receive the optical frequency component at a central frequency f n (x), so that, when x is scanned between values x 2 and x 1 , the central frequency f n (x) is scanned within a range δf=|f n (x 2 )−f n (x 1 )|; wherein, for any central frequency f 0 within the range Δf of optical frequencies, there is at least one such n=n 0 and at least one such x=x 0 that f n0 (x 0 )=f 0 .