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QE Optical Bench Options

Below is a diagram of the “QE” Optical Bench used in the QE65000 Scientific-grade Spectrometer. It shows how light moves through the symmetrical crossed Czerny-Turner design of the bench. You can choose various entrance aperture sizes, detector accessories, filters, gratings and more to optimize your spectrometer.


1	SMA 905 Connector	Light from a fiber enters the optical bench through the SMA 905 Connector. The SMA 905 bulkhead provides a precise locus for the end of the optical fiber, fixed slit, absorbance filter and fiber clad mode aperture.

2	Fixed Entrance Slit (specify slit size)	Light passes through the installed slit, which acts as the entrance aperture. Slits come in various widths from 5 µm to 200 µm. The slit is fixed in the SMA 905 bulkhead to sit against the end of a fiber.

3	Longpass Absorbing Filter (optional)	If selected, an absorbance filter is installed between the slit and the clad mode aperture in the SMA 905 bulkhead. The filter is used to block second- and third-order effects or to balance color.

4	Collimating Mirror (specify standard or SAG+)	The collimating mirror is matched to the 0.22 numerical aperture of our optical fiber. Light reflects from this mirror, as a collimated beam, toward the grating. You can opt to install a standard mirror or a UV absorbing SAG+ mirror.

5	Grating & Wavelength Range (specify grating & starting wavelength)	We install the grating on a platform that we then rotate to select the starting wavelength you’ve specified. Then we permanently fix the grating in place to eliminate mechanical shifts or drift.

6	Focusing Mirror (specify standard or SAG+)	This mirror focuses first-order spectra on the detector plane. Both the collimating and focusing mirrors are made in-house to guarantee the highest reflectance and the lowest stray light possible. You can opt to install a standard or SAG+ mirror.

7	Detector with TE Cooling	The TE-cooled, back-thinned, “2D” detector provides great signal processing speed, improved signal-to-noise ratio and great native response in the UV. It generates virtually no dark noise, allowing for long integration times.

8	OFLV Variable Longpass Order-sorting Filter (optional)	Our proprietary filters precisely block second- and third-order light from reaching specific detector elements.

1	SMA 905 Connector

A precision SMA 905 Connector aligns to the spectrometer’s entrance slit and ensures concentricity of the fiber. For an upgrade fee that includes the cost of the custom connector and labor, we will replace the standard SMA 905 Connector with a different connector of your choice. We also offer connector adapters, such as an SMA-to-ST Adapter and an SMA-to-FC Adapter. Please call for details on custom connectors and adapters.

2	Fixed Entrance Slit

Another option available with "QE" User-configured Spectrometers is selecting the size of the entrance aperture. Entrance slits are rectangular apertures, 1-mm tall and various widths from 5 µm to 200 µm, with the width determining the amount of light entering the bench. Note that the smallest slit achieves the best optical resolution. (For more on how your slit choice affects optical resolution, click here.) A slit is permanent; it only can be changed by our technicians. You can opt against having a slit, in which case the diameter of the fiber connected to the spectrometer determines the size of the entrance aperture.

Slit	Description	Pixel Resolution	Price
SLIT-5	5-µm wide x 1-mm high	~2.0 pixels	$174
SLIT-10	10-µm wide x 1-mm high	~2.2 pixels	$174
SLIT-25	25-µm wide x 1-mm high	~2.6 pixels	$174
SLIT-50	50-µm wide x 1-mm high	~3.3 pixels	$174
SLIT-100	100-µm wide x 1-mm high	~4.7 pixels	$174
SLIT-200	200-µm wide x 1-mm high	~8.9 pixels	$174


3	Longpass Absorbing Filter

We offer longpass absorbing or blocking filters; each filter has a transmission band and a blocking band to restrict radiation to a certain wavelength region for eliminating second- and third-order effects. These filters are installed permanently between the slit and the clad mode aperture in the bulkhead of the SMA 905 Connector.

Item	Description	Price
OF1-WG305	Longpass filter; transmits light >305 nm	$81
OF1-GG375	Longpass filter; transmits light >375 nm	$59
OF1-GG475	Longpass filter; transmits light >475 nm	$59
OF1-OG515	Longpass filter; transmits light >515 nm	$59
OF1-OG550	Longpass filter; transmits light >550 nm	$59
OF1-OG590	Longpass filter: transmits light >590 nm	$59


4 & 6	Collimating & Focusing Mirrors

You can replace standard aluminum-coated reflective mirrors with our proprietary, UV-absorbing SAG+ Mirrors, which increase reflectance in the VIS-NIR and, in turn, increase the sensitivity of the spectrometer. SAG+ Mirrors are often specified for fluorescence. These mirrors also absorb nearly all UV light, which reduces the effects of excitation scattering in fluorescence measurements. Unlike typical silver-coated mirrors, the SAG+ mirrors won't oxidize. They have excellent reflectivity -- more than 95% across the VIS-NIR. The price of the SAG+UPG-HR is $290.

5	Choosing a Grating & Wavelength Range

You choose from among 14 gratings for each spectrometer. With each grating, you consider its groove density (which helps determine the resolution), its spectral range (which helps determine the wavelength range) and its blaze wavelength (which helps determine the most efficient range). Click here for your Grating & Wavelength Choices.

Predicted Ranges & Resolutions

See a series of graphs to demonstrate the predicted Range and Resolution of your QE4000 Spectrometer.

7	Back-thinned Area Detector

The QE65000’s Hamamatsu S7031-1006 FFT-CCD area detector provides 90% quantum efficiency -- defined as how efficiently a photon is converted to a photoelectron. The TE-cooled detector features low noise and low dark signal, which enables low-light-level detection and long integration times, thus achieving a wide dynamic range.

The S7031 is a 2D array, which allows us to bin pixels in a vertical column to acquire light from the entire height of the spectrometer’s slit image. This improves light collection and signal-to-noise signif-icantly. Because the detector is back-thinned (or back-illuminated), it has great native response in the UV and does not require the UV detector upgrade that we apply to other detectors.

In our spectrometers with linear CCDs, the slit’s width, not its height, regulates the amount of light entering the bench because linear CCDs cannot efficiently collect the light from the entire height of the slit. But in the QE65000, the 2D area detector can better take advantage of the height of the entrance slit and the additional light, greatly improving system sensitivity.

The Hamamatsu S7031-1006 FFT-CCD area detector is included in the price of the QE65000 Spectrometer.

8	Detector with OFLV Filter

The OFLV-QE is one of our Variable Longpass Order-sorting Filters used to eliminate second-order effects and is used with an HC-1 Grating in a 200-950 nm wavelength range system in a QE65000. We use patented coating technology to apply the filter onto the substrate of the detector’s window. The OFLV-QE is Call for Price.

Detector Specifications
Detector:	Hamamatsu S7031-1006 area CCD
Detector range:	200-1100 nm
Pixels:	1024 x 58 (1044 x 64 total); 24.6 µm square size
Pixel area:	active area: 24.576 mm x 1.392 mm
Pixel well depth:	300,000 electrons/well; ~1.5 million electrons/column sum well
Sensitivity:	400 nm: 22 electrons/count; 250 nm: 26 photons/count
Dark current:	4000 e^-/pixel/sec @ 25 °C; 200 e^-/pixel/sec @ 0 °C

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Ocean Optics
Applications Scientist

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