A spectrometer helps identify such changes by studying a broad range of colors (or wavelengths) of that light.How they shrunk the deviceMost spectrometers range from the size of a small refrigerator to a deck of cards, says Judith Dawes.“As more and more of the technologies we use have been miniaturized,” she says, “we’ve realized it is possible to make spectrometers much smaller.”Instead of prisms or gratings, the device by Sun’s team relies on two tiny flakes of semiconducting materials.“This is the same basic technology that allows a photovoltaic solar cell to produce electricity from the sun,” Dawes explains.Looking aheadSun and Yoon think it might take only a few years to make this tiny spectrometer available for use in phones and other products."