The NIR Digital Transform Spectrometer (DTS) product family is aimed at general-purpose spectroscopy applications at present, such as material identification, quantitative analysis, purity analysis, quality control and material inspection. Work is also ongoing to develop specific applications for lab analysis and process control in the pharmaceutical, food and industrial sectors.
The launch - which took place at the ongoing Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) show - marks Polychromix first foray outside its core expertise in optical telecommunications and networking systems. "Polychromix identified a need within the spectroscopy market to provide a portable, cost-effective and highly-efficient spectroscopy device," commented Mouli Ramani, the company's vice president of marketing and business development.
Polychromix's DTS technology uses a spatial light modulator in a portable form factor, featuring a single InGaAs detector and no moving parts. The range can handle wavelengths from 0.9 to 2.5 microns, and the measurement method automatically corrects for stray light effects, according to the firm. In addition, The devices have low power consumption and can use a standard USB connection for both communications and power.
The DTS systems are fully programmable solution and can be configured to operate in various scanning modes including Monochromator, NDIR, chemometric and digital transform modes. This should enable the user to configure the device optimally to a broad set of applications.
The DTS product family consists of three spectrometer versions: the DTS-1700 covering the 0.9-1.7 micron NIR range, the DTS 2500 covering the 1.7-2.5 micron NIR range and the DTS-NB high resolution version, for specific narrowband applications (1.1-1.3 microns) within the NIR spectrum.
Polychromix is offering the DTS(TM) units at PittCon at an introductory price of $5,000 - $7,500 depending on specific configurations. Pricing is expected to remain below $10,000 after the show.