TRSpectrometer 1.0

After several months work on both the hardware and software, I’ve finally released version 1.0 of the TRSpectrometer software. This is an open-source platform for time-resolved spectroscopy which I’ve now declared to be in a usable state, fit for public consumption.

The version 1.0 includes a reference hardware design for a transient absorption (pump–probe) spectrometer, along with a full GUI application for the acquisition of data.

Raw data acquisition panel of the TRSpectrometer application.

The software features a plugin architecture which allows for flexible additions and modifications to the application. This should make it easy to support different hardware types, experimental methods, or other tools for alignment or data analysis. For example, a plugin is included which uses a webcam and computer vision to assist with alignment of translating delay stages:

Alignment panel plugin for the TRSpectrometer application. A translating delay stage can be aligned with the help of a webcam and computer vision.

The application can be used for data acquisition, or simply for viewing and exploring data. A set of “dummy” hardware devices are configured by default so users can immediately test out some of the acquisition features.

The project is documented at https://trspectrometer.readthedocs.io, where you’ll also find installation instructions.