| A prototype IR acousto optic tunable filter-based point-spectrometer has been designed for examining and analyzing potential biological samples collected in-situ from planets or other solar system objects. The reflectance spectrometer operates at a wavelength range of 1.6 - 3.6 microm, which is diagnostic of minerals and organics, and inspects a 1 mm sized spot on the sample. The tuning component is the acousto optic tunable filter that has been utilized in a variety of spectral detection applications. In this dissertation the instrument's specification and design approach including the selected components is described. The data acquisition system, the electronic components and their interconnections are presented. The instrument's radiometric performance is examined and performance is described by a noise equivalent reflectance value of 0.13% that is obtained from laboratory measurements. Spectral leakage in the spectrometer is studied by examining averaged transmission functions at two wavelengths and estimating the effective spectral resolution using several methods. A presentation of the device's performance and ability to obtain reflectance spectra is described where the PS is tested on several mineral samples. Finally, an experiment campaign is described where the point spectrometer was integrated with an ion mass spectrometer. Both instruments were tested before and after integration and produced promising results. |
