BIO

My name is Mariana Trujillo and I am a student at FSU majoring in Psychology on the pre-medicine track. Due to my interest in wanting to understand the neurological reasons behind an individual's behavior I decided to major in Psychology in order to gain more knowledge. Pursuing a career in medicine was a more recent development which was inspired by my want to actively be involved in helping other people. My future career plans include wanting to work as a trauma surgeon with the organization Doctors Without Borders. I want to do more than just help others, and instead put my efforts into helping those around the world that may not always have the means to help themselves.

Development of DIY Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer with optical range from Far-IR to Mid-IR

Abstract

We have been working on building an FTIR spectrometer, which stands for “Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer”. We will be using the spectroscopy to measure the transmission, absorption, or reflection of any sample in the far to near infrared (IR) spectral range. In order to build the FTIR spectrometer, we first had to build multiple circuit boards and then establish a connection with the microcontroller in order to drive the motors. In order to make the alignment of the mirrors on top of the motors more user friendly, we integrated the microcontroller with a user interface based computer program. The AC coupled signal sent by the detector has been converted to digital data bits using a high frequency ADC. The ADC is tested using an external function generator as the signal input. In this work we were able to control the motors as desired using the computer program, while also being successful in integrating the light source lumination control. The signal generated by the function generator was able to convert digitally using the ADC and has been successfully communicating serially with Audrino using the SPI bus. The light produced by the light source travels through various mirrors, which are controlled by the motors, after passing through the sample compartment the light focuses’ its beam on the detector. We in turn generate the FTIR signal which is acquired by the Audrino with the help of an external ADC.

Keywords: FTIR Spectrometer, Infrared radiation, electromagnetic wave