Fluorescence spectrometer

US5721613A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Hewlett-Packard Company, L.P. · US

Inventors

• Clemens Linowski · Waldbronn, DE
• Thomas Doerr · Berlin, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 25, 1996
• Grant date: Feb 24, 1998
• Expiry date: Nov 25, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N30/74
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A fluorescence spectrometer comprises a light source with a flashlamp (2), means (9) for selecting an excitation wavelength, a sample cuvette (11), means (16) for spectrally separating the radiation emitted from the sample cuvette (11), and detector means (18) for detecting the spectrally separated radiation. The detector means (18) comprise an avalanche photodiode, preferably an array of avalanche photodiodes. The use of a flashlamp in combination with avalanche photodiodes ensures high sensitivity in the determination of low sample concentrations, in particular when the sample composition changes over time as in liquid chromatography.