Compact spectrometer with high spectral resolution

A spectrometer comprising:

• at least one slit element located at an object plane;
• a first optical subassembly having at least one optical element;
• said first optical subassembly configured to substantially collimate, at a plane, light emanating from said at least one slit element;
• said plane being located between said first optical subassembly and a second optical subassembly;
• said plane referred to as a center plane;
• an optical axis of said second optical subassembly being at a substantially non-parallel angle to the optical axis of said first optical subassembly;
• at least one dispersive element located at substantially the center plane;
• a first light bending element located optically proximate to the center plane and optically disposed between said first optical subassembly and said at least one dispersive element;
• said first light bending element configured to bend collimated light incident on said first light bending element;
• a second light bending element located optically proximate to the center plane and optically disposed between said second optical subassembly and said at least one dispersive element;
• said second light bending element configured to bend collimated light incident on said second light bending element;
• said second optical subassembly configured to image substantially collimated light from the center plane onto an image plane;
• said optical axis of said first optical subassembly and said optical axis of said second optical subassembly being at a substantially non-parallel angle;
• and
• said substantially non-parallel angle and bend from said first and second light bending elements being balanced to substantially reduce spectral smile distortion of the spectrometer;
• said optical axis of said second optical subassembly intersecting substantially at the center plane.

A spectrometer comprising:

• at least one slit element located at an object plane;
• a first optical subassembly having at least one optical element;
• said first optical subassembly configured to substantially collimate, at a plane, light emanating from said at least one slit element;
• said plane being located between said first optical subassembly and a second optical subassembly;
• said plane referred to as a center plane;
• at least one dispersive element located at substantially the center plane;
• at least one light bending element located substantially optically proximate to the center plane;
• said at least one light bending element configured to bend collimated light incident on said at least one light bending element;
• said second optical subassembly configured to image substantially collimated light from the center plane onto an image plane;
• an optical axis of said second optical subassembly being at a substantially non-parallel angle to the optical axis of said first optical subassembly;
• and
• said substantially non-parallel angle and bend from said at least one light bending element being balanced to reduce spectral smile distortion of the spectrometer to less than 1% of a spatial field width.