Andor Technology Mechelle User Manual Download Page 9

9

Version 4.2 rev 06 Oct 2020

8.2 x 8.2 mm / 512 x 512 sensor 
Lowest Noise Imaging EMCCD

Mechelle

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Please note that not all of the following guidance may apply to your product, e.g. you may not have invisible 
lasers.

1.  Never look into a laser beam either directly or indirectly.

2.  Read the safety instructions supplied with all equipment in the system.

3.  Ensure that the laser equipment is used in accordance with national guidelines.

4.  Ensure all personnel requiring access to the product are fully trained in both using the product and the general 

use of lasers.

5.  Ensure users are familiar with the hazardous properties of lasers, especially that laser safety hazards differ 

from those of normal light/radiation sources as they are highly-concentrated, very low divergence beams of 
radiation.

6.  Ensure end-users are familiar with the operation of the laser’s key switch control, interlocks, emission LEDs 

and other safety features.

7.  Restrict and control access to the area(s) where laser(s) are in use to those persons who are trained in the 

dangers of lasers and trained on the safety precautions to be observed when working with lasers.

8.  Ensure that all interlocks are connected and functioning correctly, where applicable.

9.  Ensure suitable laser warning signs are prominently displayed in the area the system operates.

10.  If the system is not in use, turn the laser off using the key switch, where applicable.

11.  Do not attempt to disassemble the unit housing the lasers or any part of the system. If there is a problem 

please contact Andor directly (see Section 1.1, ‘

Technical Support

’).

12.  On a daily basis, or before every use, verify that the laser interlock circuit (if applicable) is working by 

confirming that the laser emission indicator on the source(s) turns off when any of the following are done:

•  The microscope ocular eyepieces are activated/engaged for viewing.

•  The articulated transmitted light arm on inverted microscopes is tilted back from the functional vertical 

position before using the system.

•  Each beam splitter is removed from the unit.

•  Any other interlocks on your system.

13.  Fluorescent cards should be used to visually locate and indicate the output of invisible wavelengths at all 

times, where applicable.

14.  Additional precautions may need to be implemented as the necessary precautions will be specific to each 

system installation, configuration and typical mode of use. The responsible Laser Safety Officer must assess 
and implement the necessary precautions to avoid possible exposure to hazardous radiation during use.

15.  We recommend that a copy of the latest edition of 

IEC 60285-1 Safety of laser products – Part 1: Equipment 

classification and requirements

 is purchased by the Laser Safety Officer for reference, as well as 

IEC 60825-14 

Safety of laser products – Part 14: A user’s guide.

Summary of Contents for Mechelle

Page 1: ...8 2 x 8 2 mm 512 x 512 sensor Lowest Noise Imaging EMCCD Mechelle User Guide andor com Andor Technology Ltd 2020 Version 4 2 revised 06 Oct 2020...

Page 2: ...E SLIT 22 2 3 1 Optional ST FC fibre adapters 22 2 3 2 Shutter 23 2 4 OPTIONAL CC52 COLLECTOR COLLIMATOR WITH ALIGNMENT LASER 24 SECTION 3 INSTALLING THE MECHELLE SPECTROGRAPH 25 3 1 UNPACKING HANDLIN...

Page 3: ...IENCY CORRECTION 53 4 11 1 Effect of Ambient Temperature on the Relative Efficiency Correction 54 4 11 2 Relative Efficiency Correction with Sub Spectrum 54 SECTION 5 TROUBLESHOOTING 55 SECTION 6 MAIN...

Page 4: ...4 Version 4 2 rev 06 Oct 2020 8 2 x 8 2 mm 512 x 512 sensor Lowest Noise Imaging EMCCD Mechelle APPENDIX A MECHANICAL DRAWINGS 60 APPENDIX B REFERENCE INFORMATION 61 APPENDIX C OTHER INFORMATION 65...

Page 5: ...0 Updated laser safety information 4 2 06 Oct 2020 Updated laser safety information Future Versions of the Manual Changes are periodically made to the product and these will be incorporated into new e...

Page 6: ...ing and operating instructions located either on the product or in this guide 7 The Mechelle a is a precision scientific instrument containing fragile components Always handle with care 8 This product...

Page 7: ...manual handling risks such as Lifting a load that is too heavy Poor posture or technique during lifting Dropping a load Lifting objects with sharp edges Shipping and Storage Conditions Unpacking and I...

Page 8: ...ble laser light is dangerous as well as invisible that this laser product is not fully safe as you usually have access to hazardous laser radiation Laser safety for this type of product is about reduc...

Page 9: ...displayed in the area the system operates 10 If the system is not in use turn the laser off using the key switch where applicable 11 Do not attempt to disassemble the unit housing the lasers or any pa...

Page 10: ...exposures but can be hazardous for deliberate staring into the beam The time base of 0 25 s is inherent in the definition of the class and presumption is that there is very low risk of injury for mome...

Page 11: ...verything above Class 3B See IEC 60825 1 Table F 2 See IEC 60825 1 Annex C CDRH Class IIIa is almost identical to Class 3R and 21CFR 1040 10 b 8 describes the hazard as depending upon the irradiance e...

Page 12: ...Laser Safety Officer Andor recommends the following products 360 nm to 510 nm Kentek KXP 4001 Spectacles 510 nm to 670 nm Kentek KRA 6702 Spectacles Working with Optical Fibres 1 Only service personn...

Page 13: ...d Warning This is a Class 2 product that will harm your eyes if you stare into it See section on Laser Class Practical Differences above Do not stare into the beam Radiation Output The maximum output...

Page 14: ...ect eye exposure to the laser beam Radiation Output The maximum output defined by IEC 60825 1 3 58 and 7 9 is the maximum accessible emission that is used to determine the class of the laser product N...

Page 15: ...n be emitted from the output so it is labelled as a Laser Aperture Although the output would be classified as Class 2 because it is typically 0 15 mW under IEC 60825 1 Condition 3 this is superfluous...

Page 16: ...air The spectrograph has a rugged compact design with no moving parts enabling the Mechelle spectrograph to withstand more physical handling than other high performance spectrographs This makes the Me...

Page 17: ...reland Tel 44 0 28 9023 7126 Fax 44 0 28 9031 0792 Andor Technology 300 Baker Avenue Suite 150 Concord MA 01742 USA Tel 1 860 290 9211 Fax 1 860 290 9566 Asia Pacific China Andor Technology Japan 5F I...

Page 18: ...SE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HEREIN 1 3 Copyright and Protective Notices The copyright in this document and the associated drawings are the property of Andor Technology Ltd and all rights are reserv...

Page 19: ...mera model Slit type and model and optional shutter are ordered separately 1 5 1 Optional Components Optional and replacement parts are listed below Description Order Code Mercury Argon calibration la...

Page 20: ...ring during readout or for ICCD cameras to take background or protect the photocathode between experiments Shutter Cable Connection For connection of the temperature sensor and optional shutter to the...

Page 21: ...spersive element prism is collimated Echelle Grating This type of grating provides good efficiency performance over a large number of orders and wavelength range Its groove density also dictates the s...

Page 22: ...a Slit Disc must be used Figure 3 right Figure 3 Left SMA connector and brass insertion tool Right Slit disc and brass insertion tool The most common slit size used is a rectangular 25 m x 50 m W x H...

Page 23: ...The shutter if fitted is located behind the slit in the shutter housing The shutter housing contains an electronic shutter driver which connects through the Shutter Temperature cable To improve the op...

Page 24: ...ngth Range 200 950 nm Fibre Optics Connector Standard SMA Items Included 3V adapter An alignment laser is also provided with the CC52 When coupled to the collector collimator the user can optimize the...

Page 25: ...d Camera Alignment Procedure NOTE If you have purchased an Andor camera such as the iStar with your Mechelle spectrograph it is normally attached and pre aligned at the factory Figure 9 Mechelle with...

Page 26: ...53 nm line from Hg source falls near the following pixels X 500 Y 300 with 10 pixels margin 7 Tighten the grub screws x3 and the cap head screw x1 8 To check the alignment use a CW source e g Tungsten...

Page 27: ...ed for Mechelle calibration Example wavelengths shown below please refer to information suplied with your reference lightsource Hg Wavelengths nm Ar Wavelengths nm 253 652 696 543 296 728 706 722 302...

Page 28: ...d a USB port of the control PC The iStar CCD is connected via USB 2 0 and the iStar sCMOS via USB 3 0 Figure 12 iStar CCD USB 2 0 left iStar sCMOS USB 3 0 right 2 Connect the I2 C shutter temperature...

Page 29: ...s time only option then click Next 2 Select the Install from a list or specified location Advanced option then click Next 3 Navigate to the directory where the Andor Solis software was installed to on...

Page 30: ...d when the software was installed 4 2 Setting up the Mechelle in the Software From the Main Window select Hardware Spectrograph Setup e g The Setup Spectrograph dialog box appears Select Andor from th...

Page 31: ...dialog box appears In the XML Setup File field of the Mechelle Setup dialog box click on the button then locate and select the appropriate xml file for the Mechelle model being used Click the Open bu...

Page 32: ...draw order lines on image button will also be shown on the right side of the main window toolbar This button also toggles this option ON and OFF The Calibration Temp window indicates the Prism tempera...

Page 33: ...sensor Lowest Noise Imaging EMCCD Mechelle Close all dialogue boxes then save NOTE The configuration file must be named either istar cfg or AndorSolis cfg After the Save button is pressed choose to ov...

Page 34: ...or acquisition parameters in Setup CCD for iStar CCD or iKon platforms or on the real time control interface for iStar sCMOS For details on how to setup the different acquisition parameters of detecto...

Page 35: ...e time intensifier gate width and delay camera trigger mode and kinetic series single acquisition mode The acquired data will appear in Data Windows 0 and 1 as shown in the example below 0 will show t...

Page 36: ...ligned The shutter housing is removed To do this you should switch on a reference source the procedure below uses a Mercury Argon lamp with a wide spread of spectral features from UV to NIR and acquir...

Page 37: ...n the echellogramme image Based on the previous or default calibration the program will look for each calibration line within the defined search area If too low a number is selected the calibration pr...

Page 38: ...rtical Y directions are plotted in a diagram The size of the plotted area equals the size of the search window If one line calibration file is used the residuals in X and Y direction equal zero The op...

Page 39: ...bration lines are properly detected and located on the echellogramme Figure 17 Accumulate Settings 4 5 1 Calibration Files There are a number of calibration files in the list Each file contains the ca...

Page 40: ...entered in two spectral orders namely order 75 and 76 In such a case the line should be entered as two separate entries in the calibration file 4 5 2 Displaying Results After the system has been calib...

Page 41: ...e 18 below The user can then select the atomic species of interest alongside their ionisation levels to identify the relevant element from this screen Figure 19 The Periodic Table Menu The results of...

Page 42: ...of fibre diameter Cross talk also increases with slit height or fibre diameter There is no standard definition of cross talk and all Echelle based spectrograph manufactures except Andor do not specify...

Page 43: ...and width of the slide bar in relation to the wavelength scale shown The start centre and end wavelengths can be changed in one of two ways 1 By dragging the slider with the mouse This is done by posi...

Page 44: ...the image window 0 see figure 21 below Only the sub image is then read out and a sub spectrum is extracted from it NOTE In Full Spectrum mode the software automatically calculates the background subt...

Page 45: ...the efficiency drops to about half of this value at the extremities of each order An Echelle grating is blazed for all wavelengths in a spectral range for a given diffraction order Figure 22 An Illus...

Page 46: ...st cover the same wavelength range or more Unfortunately these is no lamp can cover 200 nm 975 nm therefore two lamps are required to carry out this procedure Typically a deuterium lamp is used from 2...

Page 47: ...ear Select usable wavelength range this is a combination of spectrograph range and Detector spectral range e g if an Detector iStar 18F 03 is used spectral range 180 850 nm with an ME5000 wavelength r...

Page 48: ...terium Click Take Reference 1 Switch off source 1 switch on source 2 and wait for it to stabilise Click Take Reference 2 Your calibration is now complete It is recommended to save the configuration fi...

Page 49: ...er completing the previous steps the relative efficiency correction is now complete and the system ready for use NOTE Window 1 above contains the following five tabs 1 Source the manufacturers data fo...

Page 50: ...west Noise Imaging EMCCD Mechelle 3 Cf the correction factor calculated for source data and Ref data 4 Live the row data of a new signal An example for a QTH lamp is shown below 5 Sig the new data aft...

Page 51: ...of the relative efficiency correction The following figure shows the row data live from a mercury lamp if shows that the intensity of the 546 nm line has double the intensity of the 253 7 nm line The...

Page 52: ...applying the relative efficiency correction It is clear that there are very large noise levels at the lower wavelengths 200 350 nm This is caused by a lack of signal from the light source This part o...

Page 53: ...velength range to be between 350 800 nm NOTE Do not take a new Background or Reference at this point Click Ok and the Save Configuration dialog box will appear Click Yes and the Save As dialog box wil...

Page 54: ...the wavelength calibration will remain accurate 4 11 2 Relative Efficiency Correction with Sub Spectrum To carry out the relative efficiency correction with sub spectrum the following procedure must...

Page 55: ...adjusted before delivery and the design features few adjustable or moving parts Therefore it requires minimal interaction once setup in the software and in use Refer to the troubleshooting sections o...

Page 56: ...elle is not being used it is recommended to protect the fibre optic input connection with the protection cap included in the delivery Never use aggressive cleaning substances e g benzene spirit nitro...

Page 57: ...g Aperture Slit or Fibre Adapters When larger fibre 50 m diameter must be used a combination of slit and fibre can be used The slit will determine the resolution of the spectrograph and the large fibr...

Page 58: ...Horizontal Magnification 0 81 Vertical Magnification 1 66 Stray light 1 5x10 4 measured at 20 nm from 633 nm laser line Optical Axis 165 1 mm 6 50 inches with feet 155 1 mm 6 1 inches without feet Sh...

Page 59: ...al spot and then diverges again See comments in Laser Safety and Product Compliance Labels about Radiation Output definition in IEC 60825 1 7 5 ME OPT 0009 Laser Alignment Module Specifications Wavele...

Page 60: ...ENDIX A MECHANICAL DRAWINGS Dimensions mm inches 110 7 4 36 160 0 6 30 233 5 9 19 598 0 23 54 324 7 12 78 12 8 0 50 52 4 2 06 165 1 6 50 209 1 8 23 110 7 4 36 60 0 6 30 248 9 9 80 30 6 1 20 1 3 6 9 5...

Page 61: ...tems This can take several forms such as cut off filters detectors insensitive to longer wavelengths or cross dispersion in the form of prisms or low dispersion gratings The latter approach leads to a...

Page 62: ...ion will be in the region of 5 x 103 Figure 29 Schematic representation of echelle grating order sorter combination B1 2 Echelle Layout The layout of the echelle is shown in figure 30 below The patent...

Page 63: ...gle order m can be defined by the following equation Where o m is the centre wavelength of any order as shown in figure 33 below This enables the resolution R equation below of the spectrograph to be...

Page 64: ...ensor Lowest Noise Imaging EMCCD Mechelle Figure 33 Detailing four spectral orders indicating distance between orders LT and centre wavelengths B2 Sample Images Figure 34 Image of Mercury Argon lamp o...

Page 65: ...on The terms and conditions of sale including warranty conditions will have been made available during the ordering process The current version may be viewed at http www andor com pdfs literature Ando...

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