AR-1-CAL Installation and Operation Instructions
008-00000-AR1-01-201011
3
Note
If the spectrometer does not have a slit and your experiment requires you to use fibers
of varying diameters, you will need to perform a wavelength calibration after
changing fibers. You should perform a wavelength calibration each time you unscrew
the fiber from the spectrometer and change fiber size.
3. Move the On/Off switch on the AR-1 (next to the SMA 905 Connector) to the On position.
The red LED will illuminate to indicate that the AR-1 is powered on.
You have now configured the AR-1 for use.
Calibrating With the Light Source
The information in this section explains how to calibrate your spectrometer’s wavelength using the
AR-1 light source.
About the Wavelength Calibration
You are going to be solving the following equation, which shows that the relationship between pixel
number and wavelength is a third-order polynomial.
p
=
I
+
C
1
p
+
C
2
p
2
+
C
3
p
3
Where
= the wavelength of pixel
p
,
I
= the wavelength of pixel 0,
C
1
= the first coefficient (nm/pixel),
C
2
= the second coefficient (nm/pixel
2
)
C
3
= the third coefficient (nm/pixel
3
)
You will be calculating the value for
I
and the three
C
s.
Calibration Requirements for Ocean Optics
Spectrometers
To re-calibrate the wavelength of your Ocean Optics spectrometer using the AR-1, you will need the
following items:
AR-1 Argon Calibration Light Source
Ocean Optics spectrometer and its manual
An optical fiber (for spectrometers without a built-in slit, a 50-
m fiber works best)
A spreadsheet program (Excel or Quattro Pro, for example) or a calculator that performs third-
order linear regressions
