Measurement Capabilities at Avian Technologies

Welcome to the Spectroscopy at Avian Technologies blog post.  Over the next few months, my colleagues and I hope to give you an idea of what we are all about when it comes to measurements- instruments, capabilities, traceability (what it is and how we are), uncertainties and anything else you would like to discuss.

First of all, we’d like to review what we have for instrument and measurement capabilities. While our instruments might be thought of as ‘old’, we like to think of them as ‘vintage’- like fine wines! They are all lovingly cared for, serviced on a regular basis, and treated in a manner befitting their status. These are/were all top-of-the-line instruments- the best available from their manufacturers.

Our ‘batterie de cuisine’ includes:

> Four Perkin-Elmer Lambda-9/Lambda-19 UV-Vis-NIR spectrophometers.

These are double beam, double monochromator instruments, the best P-E had to offer. There were about 2000 of these made, starting in 1984 and ending in 1992. They are reference instruments- typically what a national lab or major scientific research lab would have for their ‘reference’ instrument.  The Lambda-9/19’s were great because you could add all sorts of accessories to them- integrating spheres- both small (60 mm) and large (150-200 mm)-, specular accessories to measure mirrors, fiber optic accessories, and even a 0:45 accessory. We have 4 spheres, a specular accessory or two, small spot kits, and the rare 0:45 accessory (only 4 ever made- three at NMI’s and we have the fourth). These serve as our reference instruments. All of these currently reside in our NH office.

In our Rochester facility we have the following:

> Murakami GSP-1 Goniospectrophotometer-

> Gretag- Macbeth ColorEye 7000a sphere-based color spectrophotometer.*

> Byk-Gardner Color View 45:0 color spectrophotometer*

> Gretag- Macbeth ColorEye 2145 45:0 color spectrophotometer.*

> Byk-Gardner TCS Hazemeter

What measurements do we do?

• Normal Transmittance- A Lambda-9/19 spectrophotometer either with or without a 60 mm sphere accessory. This instrument is usable from roughly 220 nm to 2700 nm, but we’re only ‘traceable’ from 250-2500 nm.

• 8°/Hemispherical Reflectance Measurements:

1) Primary instrument- Lambda-19 UV-Vis-NIR double monochromator instrument with 150 mm. integrating sphere. Typically measured at 1 nm bandpass. This is our reference instrument and has been used for many years at both NRC and NPL for colour measurements. These instruments are also used for routine UV-Vis-NIR measurements of total hemispherical reflectance.

2) Macbeth ColorEye 7000a. Currently only used for fluorescent (optically brightened) materials

45:0 Radiance Factor Measurements:

1) Primary instrument- Byk-Gardner Color-View 45:0 bench top

2) Secondary instrument: Gretag-MacBeth ColorEye 2145a

3) Reference instrument: (in evaluation) Lambda-19 UV-Vis-NIR double monochromator instrument with Labsphere RSA-PE19a annular 0:45 accessory. Typically measured at 1 nm bandpass. This was the reference instrument  at both NRC and NPL for color measurements at 0:45 geometry for years. (I was one of the designers).

All of our measurements (except the goniospectrophotometric measurements) are traceable to NIST/NRC. We work closely with both scientists at NIST, NRC (Canada), and CERAM Research in the UK to assure instrument performance and keeping up on measurement techniques.