flatCat has developed an enormous project that uses a Raspberry Pi to control a spectrometer. Here’s what he says about what the machine does:

Raman spectroscopy is something very cool to behold, and imagine.. The idea that shining a light on a sample will yield data as to its composition and vibrational state is nothing short of amazing.. And this open source system delivers all of that within reach of whomever wants it now.. Something that was not possible before.

You can read a tonne more detail at both Hackaday and on flatCat’s own blog.