BLACK-Comet-HR
UV and VIS models
StellarNet, inventors of the first miniature, concave grating spectrometers, introduces the newest member to its BLACK-Comet line-up: the BLACK-Comet-HR.  Designed for high resolution applications, the new BLACK-Comet-HR spectrometer is available for measurements in two ranges - UV (200-600nm) and Visible (380-750nm), and achieves resolving resolutions of 0.4nm.  This 16-bit concave grating spectrometer is USB-2 powered, shock-proof and vibration tolerant with no moving parts, includes the powerful SpectraWiz® spectrometer software and development kit, and is available at an extremely low price of $2,750.  

The BLACK-Comet UV-VIS spectrometers utilize a 40mm diameter concave grating with aberration correction to provide superb spectral imaging. This significantly improves spectral shapes by reducing comma and astigmatism found in plane grating spectrograph designs. The spectrograph architecture does not utilize mirrors, and therefore provides the lowest possible stray light in the UV with additional assistance from the holographic line grating.  The concave grating produces a flat field on the CCD detector creating uniform resolution over the entire range.



Free SpectraWiz Software
The powerful SpectraWiz® 32 bit spectrometer software is provided free of charge with every spectrometer instrument.  This includes drivers and customizable software for operation on Windows.    The SpectraWiz software is considered the "Swiss Army Knife of Spectroscopy and may be used to accurately measure wavelength emissions, reflectance, transmission, absorption, concentrations, and absolute intensities.  In addition to real-time spectroscopy,  SpectraWiz® has built-in applications for SpectroRadiometry, SpectroColorimetry, ChemWiz chemistry lab concentration analyzer, and UV level monitors.


Interface
The system includes a high speed plug & play interface using USB-2 connection.

 

One of the main advantages of the BLACK-Comet is its ability to drastically reduce straylight levels, 0.02% at 435 nm and 0.2% at 200 nm, the lowest values of any field spectrometer. By design, the holographic grating has a smoother surface than the normal ruled gratings used in competing spectrometer models.  Surface roughness is the primary source of grating generated straylight and thus by employing superior grating technology, StellarNet’s Concave Grating Spectrometers are able to drastically reduce the effect. Additionally, grating scatter in the standard Czerny Turner design is collected and focused by the focusing mirror toward the exit port, this does not occur with the BLACK-Comet. When additional optical components like collimating and focusing mirrors are used in instrument design, it is more likely that light may be rediffracted and scattered. Similarly, due to the spectrometers ability to reduce light scatter, especially high power UV light, the Concave Grating spectrometer provides two to three times enhanced UV sensitivity as compared to plane grating/Czerny Turner optical configurations.
   

The units are ruggedized.  As shown above the detector is bolted in position and military grade epoxy holds the concave grating in place making the instruments vibration tolerant, durable, and suitable for just about any lab and/or field measurement. A multi-band filter is integrated into the spectrograph to provide order sorting and prevent optical aliasing. The instruments optical input is attached via standard SMA-905 connector, using single strand fiber optic cable with typical silica core diameters of 400um, 600um, 1000um.