New FT-IR Imaging Accessory from PerkinElmer Dramatically Increases Imaging Capabilities

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader in Health Sciences and Photonics, today introduced the Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) image accessory for its Spotlight™ FT-IR 400 imaging system.

The accessory is optimized to provide the highest quality data while maximizing the available image area. This combination of ATR measurement of large areas within the shortest experiment times increases the information generated and allows more samples to be studied.

ATR is a surface measurement technique that extends the range of samples that can be measured on FT-IR imaging systems, enabling laboratories to get meaningful FT-IR spectra from samples where traditional transmission or reflectance measurements were impossible.

“The PerkinElmer ATR accessory offers an outstanding imaging capability to resolve small material sample features – as small as 3.1 microns,” said Jonathan Rennert, vice president and general manager, Analytical Sciences, PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences. “It provides a much improved sample area compared to other commercially available ATR systems while significantly reducing overall experiment times and consequently increasing throughput.” He added that the accessory complements the existing point ATR measurement capability of PerkinElmer’s FT-IR Imaging Systems.

Preferred over Transmission Sampling in Beta Testing
As a major producer of a wide range of consumer products, Unilever requires many different materials be quickly tested, including detergents, food, hair, packaging materials, and many others. In beta testing at Unilever, the ATR accessory’s spatial resolution of 3.1 microns, up to four times higher than can be achieved with conventional transmission or reflectance imaging, was a major advantage. “We found that the PerkinElmer ATR’s higher spatial resolution made it possible to detect smaller impurities and identify smaller laminates than is possible with transmission sampling,” said Patricia Heussen, chemical analyst, Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.

“The spatial resolution in combination with the larger image area offered a much higher level of certainty that we have captured minor components,” Heussen added. “We are currently in the process of applying the PerkinElmer ATR accessory to a broad range of samples for different research projects and product manufacturing troubleshooting. For example, if there is a problem in a production process, we will be able to quickly identify impurities so they can be eliminated to ensure the integrity of the finished product.

“The Spotlight in combination with the new ATR accessory provides a solution to a wide range of challenges. It enhances rapid understanding of product structures which is a prerequisite for effective product development,” she said.

The range of applications for the ATR accessory is diverse. It can tackle difficult imaging challenges ranging from troubleshooting in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing labs to research in academic and independent pharmaceutical and biomedical labs to forensics imaging. Its specially optimized and highly efficient germanium crystal, with a 600-micron diameter sample area, enables laboratories to measure large samples (such as multi-layer laminate sample a few hundred microns across) with excellent signal quality in one operation without having to resort to “stitching” several small images.

The ATR FT-IR Imaging Accessory is the newest addition to PerkinElmer's full range of proven and reliable FT-IR microscopy and imaging systems which are engineered to the highest quality specifications, providing high throughput, reproducibility and ultimately, confidence in the quality of every result.