Abstract: Disclosed is a method for calibrating optical spectrographs, and in particular optical spectrographs having focal plane array detectors. The method comprises the steps of detecting a spectrum of a known source, referencing a table of known spectral wavelengths and relative intensities, and deriving a spectrograph model based on the spectrograph's physical properties to approximate the observed spectrum, wherein non-linear optimization techniques refine the theoretical model parameters, thereby minimizing the residual difference between observed and calculated spectral intensities in an iterative process producing a set of physical model parameters that best describe the modeling spectrograph for calibration of subsequent spectral acquisitions.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for calibrating optical spectrographs, and in particular optical spectrographs having focal plane array detectors. The method comprises the steps of detecting a spectrum of a known source, referencing a table of known spectral wavelengths and relative intensities, and deriving a spectrograph model based on the spectrograph's physical properties to approximate the observed spectrum, wherein non-linear optimization techniques refine the theoretical model parameters, thereby minimizing the residual difference between observed and calculated spectral intensities in an iterative process producing a set of physical model parameters that best describe the modeling spectrograph for calibration of subsequent spectral acquisitions.