Scientific Laboratory Instruments, Optics, and Photonics

Water, ice, dry ice and liquid nitrogen are the sources of cooling in the laboratory for decades. The introduction of lab water chiller has replaced these conventional cooling sources. It has provided the easy and convenient way for cooling liquids and reagents. There are different types of chillers like rackmount, benchtop, portable, and Lab Mini Chiller . All the chillers have the same working principle but differ from each other on the basis of situation like water source, space and the environment. Working of lab water chiller: The working of lab water chiller is to remove heat from the object thus lowering its temperature. Generally, the chiller uses water as the coolant that is used to transfer the heat from one object to another. The basic principle of the chiller involves vapor-compression or absorption-refrigeration cycle. The working cycle of the chiller is described in the following steps : Refrigeration: The process of chilling starts with the proce...

The collimator is a device that changes the diverging light or other radiations from a point source into a parallel beam. This specific feature of the device makes it an important part in spectroscopy and geometric and physical optics. An optical collimator consists of a tube with a convex lens at one end and an adjustable aperture at the other. The collimating lens of Thorlabs inside the collimator produces rays into the parallel beam so that the image can be viewed without parallax. Uses of Collimating Lens The collimating lens of Thorlabs or other labs is curved optical lenses that are used by the user to control the field of view, collection efficiency and spatial resolution of their setups. It is also used to configure illumination and collection angles for sampling. Use of Collimating Lenses in Radiology The collimator lens is also used in radiology where a collimator is an arrangement of absorbers for limiting beam of X-rays, gamma rays, or nuclear par...

Fiber optics or optical fiber refers to the medium and the technology associated with the transmission of information as the light pulses along a glass or plastic strand or fiber. The central core to the fiber is surrounded by a cladding and a protective coating. Ones the light is injected into the core it remains trapped into it until emerged from the opposite end; this is because the cladding has a slightly higher index of refraction than the core. The sensors, illuminators, and toys make use of inexpensive plastic fibers. The environment that requires electrical isolation or protection from the elements uses fiber coupled LED . Coupling of Optical Fibers to LEDs and Sensors Although many fiber couplers are available for various LEDs and light sensors one can connect silica and plastic fibers directly to LEDs and sensors. Here are different methods used to produce fiber coupled LED and sensors. Preparing the Fiber Ends To obtain the best results use the plast...

Lab water chiller s are the large energy users in many laboratories. It is necessary for the comprehensive maintenance of this equipment to ensure their reliability and efficient operation. Generally, there are five essential areas that should be considered to maintain the proper working of a water chiller. Maintain a Daily Operating Log The performance of the chiller should be analyzed daily and must be documented in a detailed log. It helps in comparison of its efficiency and detection of problems, if any. This also helps the operator to maintain a history of the operating condition and in detecting any upcoming potential problems. Keep the Tubes Clean Large chillers contain several miles of tubing in their heat exchangers. The efficiency and performance of lab water chiller mainly depend on its ability to transfer heat that begins with clean evaporator and condenser tubes. But with time mud, algae, sludge accumulates on the water side of the heat transfer sur...

Integrating sphere is a versatile optical element that has multiple Lambertian reflections at the inner surface. This reflection results in the homogenous distribution of optical radiation. The radiation source located in two locations; either inside the sphere or in front of the source’s entrance port. Properties of integrating sphere The irradiance of the integrating sphere labsphere is proportional to the total radiant power emitted either by the source inside the sphere or by the one located at the entrance port. The irradiance level does not depend on the geometrical and directional distribution of the primary source if direct illumination of the respective location is prevented. This property makes the instrument useful optical element for the detection of radiant power. The radiance reflected from the inner surface of the sphere and shielded from the direct illumination, is constant in its directional distribution and independent of the specific location wher...

Halogen has been used as the light source for decades and is chosen as the source of illumination for varieties of imaging modalities. But now LEDs is gaining popularity in the marketplace and increasingly becoming a preferred choice for a light source in various optical instruments due to its many advantages. Before comparing the characteristics of both light source, have a look on the how halogen and LED lamps produces light. Halogen Lights Halogen light source is similar to incandescent bulbs. It consists of tungsten filament surrounded by quartz envelope filled with an inert gas that makes it preferable for the use in a microscope for bright field and phase contrast microscope. With the supply of electricity, tungsten begins to glow just as within the incandescent bulb. As tungsten glows it begins to evaporate, giving off tungsten atoms. This lowers the brightness of the lamp with time. The gas present inside the lamp reacts with the tungsten vapors and recoats it...

Most of the chemical reactions are need to be carried out in cold temperature and therefore lab water chiller plays an important role in the research laboratories, pharmaceutical industries, educational institutes etc. Chillers help in removing heat for a wide variety of processes. It is necessary to make a right choice as a proper and right chiller increases the production speed and accuracy, protects valuable process equipment, and reduces water consumption and related costs. On the other hand, choosing a wrong device or the chiller with the wrong size would not be able to meet the cooling requirement and may hinder with the whole process.   An ideal chiller is the one that has an adequate cooling capacity and that deliver the cooling fluid at the proper pressure and flow rate. Here are a few characteristics that needed to be considered while choosing a lab water chiller . Heat load: While purchasing the chiller for your laboratory it is essential to determine the heat...

Water baths and chiller plays a very important role in the laboratory of pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, research institutes etc. But most often it is placed at one corner of the lab and is not taken care of. Since lab water chiller and bath plays an important role in various laboratory tasks therefore it is essential to maintain its proper functioning. Whenever a task involving heating and cooling of chemicals is to be done in the lab, the role of water bath and chiller comes into play. A proper maintenance of water bath and chiller is very important as a small error in the unit can result in loss of thousands of dollars. How often should you check the functioning of the equipment? A cleaning and maintaining of water chiller and bath employs little efforts and energy. Cleaning of air, fluid or condenser of the water bath is found to be enough to maintain its proper functioning. •             Fitters and water level m...

A mirror substrate is the basic component of laser optics.   There are a few factors that determine the price and quality of mirror substrate like its material, a shape of substrate, size, tolerance and polishing quality. The good quality mirror substrate has following features: •          It should have flat and smooth surface. The flatness of mirror substrate is defined by the number of a wavelength of light that the surface can deviate from being the perfect plane. The number of the scratches and digs on substrate surface after polishing defines the smoothness of substrate. The best quality mirror substrate is the one that has a scratch specification of 20/10. •          It should be made of a material that is free of absorption for all wavelength of high transmission.     •          It should have high thermal conductivity. G...