Ocean Optics Introduces Low-cost, General-purpose Spectrometer

08 Aug 2006

Starting at Just $999, Red Tide Spectrometer is Ideal for Budget-strapped Labs.

Dunedin, Fla., July 2006 – The Red Tide Spectrometer from Ocean Optics is a low-cost, small-footprint lab spectrometer that’s ideal as a general-purpose instrument for budget-conscious teaching and research labs. At a starting price of just $999, the Red Tide offers performance comparable to more costly systems: spectral response from 350-1000 nm, an order-sorting filter to eliminate second-order effects, and integration times as fast as 3 milliseconds. The Red Tide is a modular spectrometer that can be configured with various Ocean Optics optical bench accessories, light sources and sampling optics, to create application-specific systems for thousands of absorbance, reflection and emission applications. With its small footprint (89.1 mm x 63.3 mm) and convenient USB interface, Red Tide is a great tool for basic lab measurements. The Red Tide utilizes a detector with 650 active pixels; that’s 650 data points in one full spectrum, or one data point per nanometer from 350-1000 nm. Configured with a 25 µm entrance slit, the Red Tide offers ~2.0 nm optical resolution (FWHM). The Red Tide interfaces to PCs via its USB port, which streamlines start-up and supports hot swapping of the spectrometer. What’s more, Red Tide interfaces to Pasco’s Xplorer GLX, a unique combination of datalogger and lab analysis tool that eliminates the need for a PC. (The Xplorer GLX is available from Ocean Optics or Pasco. Click here for details.) Red Tide operates via SpectraSuite Spectroscopy Software, the first spectroscopy operating software to run in Macintosh, Linux and Windows. SpectraSuite is available with a module for educational use, with features such as a Beer’s Law calculator for absorbance experiments.