KolaDeep™ Spectral Measurement System: Measure Deeper Blocking

New fluorescence-based life science and biomedical instrumentation increasingly requires high-performance optical filters with very high blocking (OD) and steep spectral edges that transition between high transmission and high OD. Our IDEX Health & Science Semrock engineers therefore developed the KolaDeep Spectral Measurement System (SMS), a proprietary award-winning platform for proven measurements of the steepest and deepest spectral features of our optical filters. This system is used in routine production to ensure that instruments made from these filters will deliver their intended performance.

The platform's capabilities include:

• KolaDeep measures blocking to OD 8-9 across wavelength spans in the UV, visible and NIR ranges, and spectral features to OD 11
• KolaDeep resolves edges steeper than 0.2% relative to the edge wavelength from 90% transmission to OD > 7

The graph above shows OD measured on a custom pentaband filter. The blocking between passbands is specified to exceed OD 8 to prevent excitation light leakage. Theory and measurement agree to OD > 8, with some blocking reaching from OD > 9 to the noise floor.

Our engineering team performed extensive qualification testing on KolaDeep to characterize and confirm the wavelength and photometric accuracy of the system.

The recent white paper “Advanced Spectral Measurement Systems at IDEX Health & Science Semrock” presents examples and analyses of Semrock filters based on measurements by the KolaDeep SMS; a few are shown here.

The KolaDeep SMS performs well over the UV and NIR spectral range. An example is shown below for the 1064 nm Semrock MaxLine® laser-line cleanup filter. Measurements (red) confirm the required blocking and agree with the theoretical design (green) to OD > 7. Data (blue) from a superior commercially available system are not accurate beyond OD 3.

The graph above shows spectral performance for a custom hexa-notch filter designed to ensure precise blocking of six laser lines. This customer required assurance that each laser line is repeatably blocked at a specific level. The spectra measured with our KolaDeep SMS show precise matches to the specifications, even in the UV region. The measured blocking (red) matches theory (green).