Ocean Optics S2000 - Manual (Page 5)

Introduction
Ocean Optics miniature fiber optic spectrometers and accessories have revolutionized the analytical
instrumentation market by dramatically reducing the size and cost of optical sensing systems. More than 15,000
Ocean Optics spectrometers have been sold worldwide -- striking evidence of the far-reaching impact of low-
cost, miniature components for fiber optic spectroscopy. Diverse fields such as research and development,
industrial process control, medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring have benefited from access to Ocean
Optics technology.
In the Beginning
Ocean Optics began in 1989 when Florida university researchers developed a fiber optic pH sensor as part of an
instrument designed to study the role of the oceans in global warming. They soon formed Ocean Optics, Inc. and
their ingenious work earned a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy. While designing the pH-monitoring instrument, the researchers wanted to incorporate with their sensor a
spectrometer small enough to fit onto a buoy and were surprised to discover none existed. So they built their own.
In 1992, the founders of Ocean Optics revolutionized the analytical instrumentation market, filled a substantial
need in the research community, and changed the science of spectroscopy forever by creating a breakthrough
technology: a miniature fiber optic spectrometer nearly a thousand times smaller and ten times less expensive than
previous systems.
By April 1992, just thirty days after the successful completion of Phase II of the SBIR grant, Ocean Optics, Inc.
introduced the S1000 -- "The World's First Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer." Due to this dramatic reduction in
size and cost of optical sensing systems, applications once deemed too costly or technologically impractical using
conventional spectrometers were not only feasible, but practical.
The S2000 Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer
Our second-generation miniature fiber optic spectrometer, the S2000, couples a low-cost, high-performance 2048-
element linear CCD-array detector with an optical bench that's small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. The
S2000 is a high-sensitivity, low-cost UV-VIS-Shortwave NIR spectrometer for low light level applications that
demand high detector sensitivity. The S2000 accepts light energy transmitted through optical fiber and disperses it
via a fixed grating across the detector, which is responsive from 200-1100
µ m. Up to seven spectrometer channels
can be added to expand wavelength range, perform multiple tasks or provide reference monitoring. The master and
slave channels are all accessed through a single program for near-synchronous operation. In addition, we offer over
200 spectrophotometric accessories that help to create fully integrated optical-sensing systems.
The Modular Approach
A typical Ocean Optics small-footprint system comprises five basic elements: the S2000 Miniature Fiber Optic
Spectrometer, an A/D converter, our operating software, a light or excitation source, and sampling optics. The light
or excitation source sends light through an optical fiber to the sample. The light interacts with the sample. Then the
light is collected and transmitted through another optical fiber to the spectrometer. The spectrometer measures the
amount of light and the A/D converter transforms the analog data collected by the spectrometer into digital
information that is passed to the software, providing the user with application-specific information.
We offer several of our own A/D converters for interfacing the spectrometer to your computer. The S2000 can
interface to a desktop PC via our ADC500 and ADC1000 ISA-bus A/D cards. We also offer the SAD500 Serial
Port Interface, which works with either a desktop or notebook PC. The S2000 can also interface to a notebook PC
via National Instruments’ DAQCard-700 PCMCIA A/D card.
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