One of the best online tools I know of for use in spectroscopy, SpectraPlot (spectraplot.com), has just been upgraded with the addition of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) atomic spectra database, along with improvements to the site itself to make it more user-friendly. The tool is free and openly available.
The site runs real-time spectral calculations based on input from the user such as spectral range, atomic or molecular species, pressure, and other parameters. The site can calculate absorption and emission spectra and can do a "LineSurvey" showing absorption or emission lines for materials selected by the user. In addition, blackbody curves can be calculated, given the black body temperature, emissivity, and desired spectral range. The site is interactive in that the user can click and drag to zoom and pan the plots.
According to the site itself, "SpectraPlot aims to serve the spectroscopy community through (1) web-based spectroscopic simulation software and (2) an integrated wavelength search engine for both spectral data and photonics hardware. [...] The SpectraPlot mission is twofold: 1) to strengthen the spectroscopy community and 2) to organize the photonics industry's information for spectroscopists."
The site had previously done such plots based on HITRAN and HITEMP data, which covers a number of small inorganic and organic molecules; the addition of the NIST data to the other two databases opens up the calculations to elements that span most of the periodic table.
Outputs can be saved to PNG image files, as well as (for some options) CSV files.
Finally, the site has a hardware search, which for now covers the IR, with UV and VIS coming soon. The search, which is based on the calculated plot, lists relevant vendors from across the industry and some technical specs for their products, with categories including lasers, detectors, optics/materials, filters, fibers, and mirrors.
Also from the site: "SpectraPlot was conceived and built by a few engineering and science PhDs who specialize in ultraviolet, near- and mid-infrared spectroscopic gas sensing and imaging techniques and are now a part of Lumina Labs, Inc. [San Francisco, CA] They've published about 40 peer-reviewed, archival journal papers on fundamental and applied spectroscopy. They have about 20 person-years of experience in the field, and they are leveraging their experience to make these tools as useful as possible to a broad audience."
It's a nice site, and I plan to use it myself as I research my articles.
John Wallace | Senior Technical Editor (1998-2022)
John Wallace was with Laser Focus World for nearly 25 years, retiring in late June 2022. He obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and physics at Rutgers University and a master's in optical engineering at the University of Rochester. Before becoming an editor, John worked as an engineer at RCA, Exxon, Eastman Kodak, and GCA Corporation.