DTi Smart award will help development of dual channel spectroscopy line camera, allowing two detectors to be used on a single detector output
Spectronic Devices, a designer and manufacturer of line cameras and miniature spectrometers, has received one of the UK Department of Trade and Industry Small Business Service's prestigious Smart awards to assist the development of a new dual channel line camera.
The new camera will facilitate a range of applications including dual channel spectroscopy, wide bandwidth spectroscopy and dual channel metrology.
Its capability to fit two types of detector into one camera has the advantage that a spectrograph only requires single detector output.
The patented camera uses two completely separate linear arrays mounted so that they are facing each other and a prism arrangement positioned so that one beam will strike one of the linear arrays while the second beam will hit the linear array opposite.
A simple mechanical adjustment has the effect of apparently varying the spacing between the two arrays when in fact they are firmly fixed.
In this way the optical spacing between the two detectors can be varied from 0 to 15mm.
A very useful feature of this camera is that linear arrays of any type may be used: photo-diode, NIR(InGaAs), low cost CCD, CMOS etc Even mixing array types is possible; one array could be a silicon photodiode with the other an InGaAs, thus giving a single camera a spectral response from 200nm to 1700nm.
Commenting on the award, Spectronic Devices's founder and managing director, Les Cronin, said: "Without this award it would be very difficult for a small company like ours to overcome the barriers to turning an invention into a commercially successful innovation. "Now, we can see the route to rapid commercialisation of a new product that will have real impact." First production models of the new Duoflex camera will be available from January 2004.
