Experimental - Spectroscopy

www.spectroscopyonline.com
June 2011 Spectroscopy 26(6) 45
Photoluminescence instruments
Hamamatsu Photonics’ Quantaurus
compact instruments are designed
for measuring the properties
of photoluminescent materials.
According to the company, the
Quantaurus-Tau instrument measures
fluorescence lifetimes as
short as 100 ps, and the Quantaurus-QY
instrument performs absolute
measurements and requires
no known reference samples. The
instruments reportedly can be
used to analyze materials in thin film, powder, solid, or liquid form,
and liquid samples can be cooled down to –196 °C. Hamamatsu
Phototonics, Bridgewater, NJ; www.hamamatsu.com
Scientific-grade ICCDs
Andor Technology’s iStar scientific-grade
ICCDs are designed to combine rapid
acquisitions rates and ultrahigh sensitivity
down to a single photon. According
to the company, the detectors include
high quantum-efficiency image intensifiers,
thermoelectric cooling to –40 °C,
500-kHz photocathode gating rates, and
enhanced intensifier EBI noise reduction.
The detectors reportedly provide
low jitter, low insertion delay gating electronics and nanosecondscale
optical gating for timing accuracy down to few tens of picoseconds,
allowing precise synchronization of complex experiments
through various input–output triggering options. Andor Technology,
Belfast, Northern Ireland; www.andor.com/istar
Glow discharge OES system
The GD-Profiler 2 RF glow discharge
optical emission spectroscopy system
from Horiba Scientific is designed
to provide ultrafast elemental bulk,
surface, and depth profile analysis.
According to the company, the system
utilizes controlled sputtering of a
material by a 4-mm diameter plasma,
analyzing all elements including gases
(N, O, H, Cl) as a function of the
depth in conductive or nonconductive
layers and substrates. Samples of
varying sizes and shapes can be measured.
Horiba Scientific, Edison, NJ;
www.horiba.com
CW DPSS laser
Oxxius’ SLIM-561-300 continuous
wave diode-pumped
solid-state (CW DPSS) laser is
designed with optical characteristics
that reportedly combine
transverse mode (M 2 less
than 1.2) and pointing stability
of less than 10 µrad over 3 °C.
The 300-mW, 561-nm laser can be used in confocal Raman spectroscopy,
SERS, holography, and laser Doppler velocimetry. The laser
is available in an OEM version designed for integration and a “Plug
& Play” CDRH-compliant version for laboratory use. Oxxius Inc.,
Santa Clara, CA; www.oxxius.com
Consumer safety compliance standards
SPEX CertiPrep’s consumer
safety compliance standards are
designed to help comply with
new regulations being enforced
to protect consumers from a
variety of potentially dangerous
chemicals and elements.
According to the company, recent
wordwide regulations restrict
the levels of heavy metals in
consumer products and waste
electronics, as well as a variety of
phthalates in children’s products. SPEC CertiPrep, Metuchen, NJ;
www.spexcertiprep.com
ICP-OES system
PerkinElmer’s Optima 8x00
ICP-OES system is designed
to optimize sample introduction,
enhance plasma
stability, simplify method
development, and reduce
operating costs. The system’s
sample introduction
feature is designed to
generate a constant flow of uniform droplets for stability and detection
limits. Its plasma generator reportedly uses half the argon of
traditional systems, and a camera offers continuous viewing of the
plasma. PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA; www.perkinelmer.com
FT-IR gas analyzer
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Antaris
Industrial Gas System (IGS) is an
FT-IR gas analyzer based on the
company’s Nicolet 6700 Fouriertransform
interferometer and
provides scan speeds as fast as
5 Hz at 0.5 cm -1 resolution.The
analyzer reportedly is capable
of monitoring dozens of gases
simultaneously while providing
accurate and fast multicomponent
gas analysis. Applications include industrial analyses such as
landfill methane analysis. Precalibrated gas analysis methods are
available. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Madison, WI;
www.thermoscientific.com/igs
Holographic wire grid polarizers
Infrared polarizers from Optometrics
are designed with
submicrometer grid spacing
produced using a holographic
technique. According to the
company, after exposing a
photoresist coated substrate
to monochromatic light, the
resist has a regular sinusoidal
profile, which is vacuum aluminized
at an oblique angle to create an array of parallel conductors.
The polarizers are available with a spacing of 2700 grooves/mm on
ZnSe, CaF 2
, BaF 2
, KRS-5, and germanium. Optometrics, Ayer, MA;
www.optometrics.com