Sol 2.2A: High-Resolution Thermoelectrically-Cooled InGaAs Spectrometer

The Sol™ 2.2A spectrometer from B&W Tek is a high-performance linear InGaAs array spectrometer that features 256 pixels and offers high throughput and a large dynamic range, together with TE cooling down to −5 °C through a built-in 3-stage cooler.

The spectrometer is provided with a built-in 16-bit digitizer and SMA 905 fiber optic input, and is USB 2.0 plug-and-play compatible. The integrated autozero function automatically decreases dark current and dark non-uniformity, thus ensuring an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio.

Software control enables the user to select from four different operation modes: Maximum Dynamic, Maximum Sensitivity, High Sensitivityand High Dynamic. Moreover, tailored spectral resolution and application support are available

Applications

Quality control

Material identification

NIR spectroscopy

Process monitoring

On-line analyzer

Features

Spectral range of 900 to 2200 nm

Thermoelectric cooling down to −15 °C

Built-in autozero (noise level reduction)

Resolution as fine as 9.0 nm

Four sensitivity and dynamic range modes available for particular application requirements

Accessories

Fiber sample holders

Fiber patch cords

Fiber sampling probes

Light sources

Thermoelectric Cooler

Cooling an array detector with a built-in thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is an efficient method not just to decrease dark current and noise but also to improve the dynamic range and detection limit.

Upon cooling the InGaAs array detector from a room temperature of 25 °C down to −15 °C by the TEC, the dark current is decreased by ~32 times and the dark noise is reduced by ~5.7 times. This enables the spectrometer to detect weaker optical signals and work at longer exposure times.

Specifications

Table 1. Source: B&W Tek

Spectrograph

Image Credit: B&W Tek

Entrance Slit

Table 2. Source: B&W Tek

Diffraction Grating

Table 3. Source: B&W Tek

Software

The BWSpec^® software available from B&W Tek is a spectral data acquisition software with an extensive range of tools developed to carry out complicated calculations and measurements just by clicking a button.

It enables the user to select between multiple data formats and provides optimization of scanning parameters, such as integration time. Besides robust data acquisition and data processing, other features of the software are spectrum smoothing, manual or auto baseline correction, and automatic dark removal.

Image Credit: B&W Tek