Quest™ X

The Quest™ X is a linear CCD array spectrometer optimized for UV and NIR performance using a low stray light optical bench. It features a 2048 element detector, built-in 16-bit digitizer, USB 2.0 interface with a >2.0 MHz readout speed, and external trigger. The Quest™ X is temperature compensated, which greatly reduces the thermal drift to ~15 counts/^oC. This gives improved stability by decreasing baseline drift and sustaining the dynamic range.

The Quest X is ideal for most UV, Vis, and NIR applications with spectral configurations from 200nm to 1050nm and resolutions between 0.5nm and 4.0nm. Custom configurations and RS232 communication interface are available for OEM applications.

Features

• UV - NIR (200nm - 1050nm)
• > 0.5nm Spectral Resolution
• 16-bit Digitizer
• 1ms Minimum Integration Time
• >2.0 MHz Readout Speed
• Plug-and-play USB 2.0

1. Fiber Coupler

Secures Fiber to Ensure Repeatable Results
By coupling a fiber optic to the SMA 905 adaptor, light will be guided to the slit and optically matched, ensuring reproducibility. For free space sampling, a diffuser or lens assembly can be connected directly to the SMA 905 adaptor.

2. Entrance Slit

Determines Photon Flux and Spectral Resolution
Light entering into a spectrometer’s optical bench is vignetted by a pre-mounted and aligned slit. This ultimately determines the spectral resolution and throughput of the spectrometer after grating selection. We offer a variety of slit widths to match your specific application needs: from 10μm - 200μm wide, with custom slits available.

3. Collimating Mirror

Collimates and Redirects Light Towards Grating
Both mirrors are f/# matched focusing mirrors with UV enhanced coating, which produces approximately 95% reflectance when working in the UV-Vis spectrum.

4. Diffraction Grating

Diffracts Light, Separating Spectral Components
The groove frequency of the grating determines two key aspects of the spectrometer’s performance: the wavelength coverage and the spectral resolution. When the groove frequency is increased, the instrument will achieve higher resolution, but the wavelength coverage will decrease. Inversely, decreasing the groove frequency increases wavelength coverage at the cost of spectral resolution.
The blaze angle or blaze wavelength of the grating is also a key parameter in optimizing the spectrometer’s performance. The blaze angle determines the maximum efficiency that the grating will have in a specific wavelength region.

5. Focusing Mirror

Refocuses Dispersed Light onto Detector
Both mirrors are f/# matched focusing mirrors with UV enhanced coating, which produces approximately 95% reflectance when working in the UV-Vis spectrum.

6. Array Detector

Measures Entire Spectrum Simultaneously
The Quest X features a 2048 x 1 linear CCD array detector with a 14μm pixel width and > 2000 active pixels. As the incident light strikes the individual pixels across the CCD, each pixel represents a portion of the spectrum that the electronics can then translate and display with a given intensity using BWSpec™ software.
The quantum efficiency (QE) and noise level of the array detector greatly influences the spectrometer’s sensitivity, dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio. The spectral acquisition speed of the spectrometer is mainly determined by the detector response over a wavelength region.