Continuously rotating grating rapid-scan spectrophotometer
First Claim
1. A monochromator comprising:
- a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct the radiation to an optical grating,an optical grating located in the path of said radiation, said grating being mounted to a shaft for rotation,a turntable of relatively high mass mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft,means for continuously rotating the shaft and grating at an approximately constant uninterrupted angular velocity,an exit slit positioned to intercept radiation reflected from said optical grating,a shaft encoder assembly mounted on and adjacent said shaft to deliver information representing specific angular positions of the shaft, andan electronic logic circuit delivering pulses in response to information received from said shaft encoder assembly whenever a specific wavelength is to appear at the exit slit.
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Abstract
A system for rapid-scan spectral analysis comprising a concave holographic diffraction grating continuously rotated at a substantially constant angular velocity to provide a rapid scanning monochromator (a monochromator is used to transfer nominal regions of wavelengths out of the continuous light source). The unique sampling circuitry uses an optical shaft encoder. The angular velocity and angular acceleration of the grating are calculated from time measurements, just before the first wavelength of interest falls on the detector. This information is used to control the Analog to Digital converter sampling rate across the region of interest. The samples as a function of time are stored in a memory buffer so that each data point corresponds to a wavelength.
37 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A monochromator comprising:
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a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct the radiation to an optical grating, an optical grating located in the path of said radiation, said grating being mounted to a shaft for rotation, a turntable of relatively high mass mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft, means for continuously rotating the shaft and grating at an approximately constant uninterrupted angular velocity, an exit slit positioned to intercept radiation reflected from said optical grating, a shaft encoder assembly mounted on and adjacent said shaft to deliver information representing specific angular positions of the shaft, and an electronic logic circuit delivering pulses in response to information received from said shaft encoder assembly whenever a specific wavelength is to appear at the exit slit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A spectrophotometer incorporating a monochromator comprising:
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a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct the radiation to an optical grating, an optical grating located in the path of said radiaiton, said grating being mounted to a shaft for rotation, whereby the grating is rotated about its optical axis, a turntable of relatively high mass mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft, a motor and a motor control to set the motor speed for continuously rotating the shaft and grating at an approximately constant uninterrupted angular velocity, an exit slit positioned to intercept radiation reflected from said optical grating, a shaft encoder assembly mounted on and adjacent said shaft to deliver information representing specific angular positions of the shaft, an electronic logic circuit delivering pulses in response to information received from said shaft encoder assemlby whenever a specific wavelength is to appear at the exit slit, wherein said logic circuit defines the position at which said specific wavelength appears at the exit slit by sensing the angular velocity and acceleration of the grating, and wherein said shaft encoder assembly produces index pulses and said logic circuit delivers a pulse whenever a specific wavelength appears at the exit slit by interpolating the time interval between two successive index pulses delivered by the shaft encoder assembly, and additionally comprising a sample cell through which the monochromatic radiation delivered by the monochromator passes and a detector intercepting the radiation creating an electrical signal representing the intensity of the radiation passing through said sample cell. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A spectrophotometer comprising:
- a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct the radiation to an optical grating,
an optical grating located in the path of said radiation, a rotatable shaft attached to said grating, a turntable of relatively high mass attached to said shaft, means for continuously rotating the shaft, turntable and grating at an approximately constant uninterrupted angular velocity, an angular shaft encoder assembly mounted on and adjacent said shaft to deliver information representing specific annular positions of the shaft, an electronic logic circuit delivering pulses in response to information received from said shaft encoder assembly, a sample cell located in the path of monochromatic radiation from the rotating grating and a detector positioned to intercept the radiation exiting the sample cell, said detector creating an electrical signal representing the intensity of the radiation passing through said sample cell, and a sampling circuit receiving said pulses from the electronic logic circuit and continuously receiving the electrical signal from the detector to thereby sample the continuous electrical signal in response to pulses received and produce a spectrum of radiation intensity values relative to specific wavelengths. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct the radiation to an optical grating,
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19. A spectrophotometer comprising:
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a source of polychromatic radiation and means to direct said radiation to an optical grating, an optical grating located in the path of said radiation, said grating being mounted to a shaft for rotation about the optical axis of the grating at an approximately constant uninterrupted angular velocity, a turntable of relatively high mass mounted for rotation with said grating, a sample cell through which the radiation diffracted by the grating passes, detector means to intercept said radiation and deliver a continuous electrical signal representing the intensity of radiation impinging on said detector means after passing thorugh said sample cell, means for sensing the actual angular position of said grating, means for producing signal representing the selected wavelengths at which the spectral data are to be measured, and means for sampling the continous electrical signal produced by said detector means in response to said signals representing said selected wavelengths. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification