February 27, 2014 — Trenton, New Jersey - Princeton Instruments is pleased to announce the availability of the new IsoPlane® 160 imaging spectrograph. The IsoPlane 160 brings the award-winning performance of Princeton Instruments’ IsoPlane SCT 320 to a smaller-footprint instrument. The IsoPlane 160 is the world’s first compact spectrometer to provide outstanding imaging, high spectral resolution, and excellent light-gathering power from the vacuum-UV (VUV) to the mid-IR range without performance tradeoffs.

Key benefits of this new 160 mm focal length spectrograph include high spectral and spatial resolution across the entire 27 x 14 mm focal plane, as well as complete flexibility in spectral coverage, resolution, and wavelength range thanks to a triple-grating turret. Compared to similar focal length spectrographs on the market, the IsoPlane 160 has 2.5x better resolution (due to its excellent imaging) and improved aperture (f/3.5 versus f/4.0, which translates to 31% more light-gathering power).

“The aberration-reduced design of the IsoPlane 160 makes it ideal for microspectroscopy applications,” explains Ed Gooding, Ph.D., Princeton Instruments’ spectroscopy product manager. “The IsoPlane 160 has outstanding imaging at zero order; thus, there is no need for a separate witness camera. Additionally, the IsoPlane 160 is very well suited for multiple-fiber spectroscopy and imaging as it can resolve dozens of spectral channels without crosstalk. No other 1/8 meter spectrograph can do this!”

Microscopy images have traditionally been limited to three colors, acquired sequentially using filter cubes. The IsoPlane 160, however, acquires hundreds or thousands of colors simultaneously, enabling a host of life and physical science applications.

As with its larger predecessor, the new IsoPlane 160 is complemented by the complete line of Princeton Instruments accessories, including light sources, optical fibers, filter wheels, and shutters, as well as manual motorized and kinematic slits. Integration with Princeton Instruments’ industry-leading PIXIS, ProEM®, PI-MAX®4, PyLoN®, and NIRvana® cameras is seamless.

The IsoPlane 160 is supported by Princeton Instruments’ 64-bit LightField® software (with available IntelliCal® wavelength calibration), Princeton Instruments’ 32-bit WinSpec software, and National Instruments’ LabVIEW® software. Researchers can also use their own acquisition software with the Princeton Instruments software developer’s kit (SDK).

Key applications for the IsoPlane 160 spectrograph include multichannel spectroscopy, microspectroscopy, Raman scattering, fluorescence, photoluminescence, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), Fourier-domain spectroscopy, biomedical imaging, and most other spectroscopic imaging and non-imaging techniques.
 
For more information, please refer to www.princetoninstruments.com/products/spec/isoplane/.