Spectrometers, Spectroscopy, and Spectrometer Accessories

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Optical spectrometers are used to characterise thin film samples and solutions via optical spectroscopy (often referred to as UV-Vis spectroscopy). Optical spectroscopy is a versatile technique, which is fast and easy to do. Through even the simplest absorbance measurement, you can learn a lot about your sample, such as molecular composition, concentration, or photo-stability of your sample. Optical spectroscopy is used across the sciences to characterise a wide range of samples including measuring material properties of optoelectronic materials, tracking bacterial culture growth and measuring fluorescent or photoluminescent materials.

Our low price spectrometers have a small lab footprint and come with accompanying software to enable fast integration with any lab. The modular design of the spectrometer along with the complementary accessories, make it possible to adapt the spectrometer set up for your specific needs. We have created the Ossila Optical Spectrometer to facilitate optical spectroscopy measurements for as many researchers as possible. These include absorption, photoluminescence and reflectance measurements.

The Ossila Optical Spectrometer has a range of low price complementary equipment and accessories. For the best value, we recommend our complete optical spectroscopy bundle includes a spectrometer, broadband white light source, UV light source, cuvette holder, four port transmission holder, two SMA optical fibres, an optical mirror, and a breadboard plate. This would enable you to do absorbance, reflectivity, and photoluminescence measurements. Available now for a discounted price with free world shipping and spectroscopy software.

Browse Optical Spectrometers and Spectroscopy

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Taking Measurements with a Spectrometer

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The Ossila Optical Spectrometer has many potential applications that span multiple disciplines. It can be used for the characterisation of LEDs and lasers, (anti)reflection coating efficiency measurements, for investigations into absorbing materials, fluorescence detection, photovoltaics, and much more.

Optical Absorption

The optical absorption of material will tell you about the wavelengths of light that it will absorb. With this information, along with emission data, you can probe the internal electronic and vibrational structure of atoms and molecules. In some cases, this can give you information about the conformational structure of molecules and polymers within your sample.

Absorbance measurements can also be used to calculate the concentration of absorbing species in a sample or monitor the progress of chemical reactions.

The ability to measure absorption is critical for applications such as chemical synthesis and analysis, material discovery (for photovoltaics, LEDs, or pharmaceuticals) and quality control.

Typically, the spectroscopy light source used for absorption and transmission measurements has a very broad spectrum. Suitable sources include deuterium or tungsten halogen lamps or an LED broadband white light source.

Transmission and Reflectivity

Transmission and reflectivity measurements have applications that range from characterising photonic structures such as dielectric stacks (often used as high-reflectivity or antireflection coatings) to process control in manufacturing. They can be used to detect changes in film thickness, density changes, and even the presence or absence of objects.

Light Scattering

Scattering measurements are much less common, due in part to the difficulties in predicting and detecting where the light will scatter. With the correct procedures, optical spectrometers can be used to calculate the size and distribution of scattering centers within a sample. They are also useful for impurity detection/monitoring in water systems, nanoparticle characterisation and drug loading for pharmaceuticals.

Luminescence

The Ossila Optical Spectrometer can also be used to measure the emission spectrum of materials and devices. Studying the light that is emitted by a material is a complementary technique to absorption spectroscopy, in that it probes how processes lead to the conversion of internal energy to photons, rather than the other way around.

The Ossila Spectrometer can be used to measure various type of radiative emission measurements including steady-state photoluminescence, fluorescence and phosphorescence. In these cases, the compatible Ossila UV light source can be used as an excitation source. Alternatively, you can use a igh energy laser of appropriate wavelength. You can also use the spectrometer to measure the emission of light from non-radiative excitation sources, such as for electroluminescence measurements.

From emission measurements, you can extract information about the electronic and vibrational states pf a material, as well as how these materials are interacting with their surroundings. This information can be used to complement (or as an alternative to) absorption measurements for chemical synthesis and analysis, material characterisation and discovery, quality control, and more. In addition, luminescence also has some unique applications. For example, fluorescent molecules are often used as 'tags' or 'tracers' in applications as far-ranging as understanding the processes occurring within living cells, to identifying the paths of water courses.

Optical spectroscopy is invaluable in studying all types of emission. It allows the colour rendering index (CRI) of light sources to be calculated, which is an important factor when developing lighting for specific applications.

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