# A Do-it-yourself Spectrograph Kit for Educational Outreach in Optics and Photonics

## TL;DR

This paper presents a low-cost, DIY spectrograph kit designed for educational outreach, enabling students to learn spectroscopy concepts through hands-on experiments using accessible materials.

## Contribution

The authors developed a portable, modular spectrograph kit using off-the-shelf components, making spectroscopy education more accessible and engaging for schools and public outreach.

## Key findings

- Spectrograph achieves a resolving power of about 1000.
- Kit costs less than $500 and is easy to assemble.
- Suitable for teaching various spectroscopy concepts in STEM.

## Abstract

We designed and built a do-it-yourself spectrograph assembly to demonstrate the concept of spectroscopy, an indispensable tool for exploring the cosmos. This spectrograph is designed for optical band (400-750 nm). It uses a transmission grating to disperse the light and a webcam to measure the spectrum. This spectrograph provides a resolving power ($\lambda/\delta\lambda$) of about 1000. This demonstration involves off-the-shelf materials costing less than \$500, thus making it an easy to build demonstration kit for a school or public setting. The kit is well-suited for performing various science experiments and acquiring hands-on experience for students to learn the concepts such as coherence, spectral orders, resolving power, absorption and emission spectra. All of these concepts are an integral part of modern astronomical observations as well as various other fields in STEM such as biomedical engineering, chemical analysis, food and water quality, etc. This kit is portable and fully modular, making it apt for outreach purposes.