Advancement in Laser Direct Infrared Chemical Imaging and UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometry
WHERE AND WHEN
Thursday, January 23rd, 2020
11:00am–12:00pm Technology Presentations
12:00pm–2:00pm Live Instrument Demos
12-0168, MIT.nano (basement level), Building 12
60 Vassar Street (rear)
Cambridge, MA
REGISTER
DETAILS
In this talk, Agilent experts will describe technological innovations such as the bi-colored detector and high precision optical encoder ring, as well as present several application examples including data collection at multiple angles and different polarizations of light with minimal user interaction.
After the talk, Agilent application scientists will be available to answer questions, discuss future applications, and offer the opportunity to run unique samples from the MIT community on the instruments (sample description must be submitted with registration).
Agilent 8700 Laser Direct Infrared Chemical Imaging System (LDIR): Infrared microscopy and chemical imaging have evolved from point-by-point measurements done with single element detectors to the more recent chemical imaging technologies utilizing infrared cameras. Chemical imaging provides a way to visually resolve the distribution of chemistry over prescribed regions of interest. The drawback of all these systems has been the use of globar (incandescent bulb), which are omni-directional, energetically inefficient, and accordingly, have low light throughput. Such drawbacks slow down data collection times and degrade both spectral quality and spatial resolution. Additionally, due to long data collection times, sample sizes are restricted to just a few millimeters in diameter.
New technology, using quantum cascade lasers (QCL), makes it possible to collect mid-IR spectra (the region most often used for sample identification) and chemical images over large sample areas (the whole microscope slides 25 mm x 75 mm can be interrogated). This technology is implemented in Agilent 8700 LDIR – an automated QCL-based infrared analyzer. All operations that were previously manual on traditional FTIR microscopes and imaging systems, e.g., backgrounding, focusing, etc., are now automated. Such automation makes infrared microscopy and chemical imaging accessible to all skill levels, rather than limiting to highly-trained practitioners. The software is intuitive and provides tools for maximizing visualization of regions of interest (ROI), obviating potentially complex operations for ROI location, changing objectives, and re-backgrounding. In this talk and live demo, Agilent experts will introduce the 8700 LDIR – demonstrating how its ease-of-use can be applied to complex samples. In addition, a few key applications will be presented including microplastics detection and identification and “black spot” (unknown contaminate) analysis.
Cary 7000 Universal Measurement Spectrophotometer (UMS): Optical characteristics of materials are determined through reflectance and transmission measurements. Wavelengths used in these measurements range from the UV to the near-infrared depending on the material to be examined. When determining optical characteristics, it is important to know that the reflectance and transmission measurements are being made on the same spot – in the past, this has meant using multiple accessories to make both measurements. It is also highly desired to make absolute reflectance measurements. An absolute specular reflectance measurement over a range of angles has historically been a non-trivial measurement. Unique design and innovative technology of Cary 7000 allow correlative reflectance and transmission measurements at angles ranging from 5.2 degrees to 85 degrees without moving the sample.