FAST SCANNING SYNCHRONOUS LUMINESCENCE SPECTROMETER BASED ON ACOUSTOOPTIC TUNABLE FILTERS

A new luminescence spectrometer based on quartz-collinear acoustooptic tunable filters (AOTFs) and capable of synchronous scanning is descri bed. An acousto-optic tunable filter is an electronically tunable opti cal bandpass filter. Unlike a tunable grating monochromator, an AOTF h as no moving mechanical parts, and an AOTF can be tuned to any wavelen gth within its operating range in microseconds. These characteristics, combined with the small size of these devices, make AOTFs an importan t new alternative to conventional monochromators, especially for porta ble instrumentation. The relevant performance of the AOTFs (efficiency , bandwidth, rejection, etc.) is compared with that of typical small-g rating monochromator.