1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. RGB Lasersystems Manuals
  4. Measuring Instruments
  5. q stick
  6. User manual

RGB Lasersystems q stick User Manual

Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
User Manual

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the q stick and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel

Summary of Contents for RGB Lasersystems q stick

  • Page 1 User Manual...
  • Page 2 User Manual RGB Lasersysteme GmbH Qstick Spectrometer Version: 1.0.3 Date: November 04, 2013 This document is protected by copyright. Do not copy or publish this document or parts of it without written permission of RGB Lasersysteme GmbH. Product specifications and descriptions in this manual are subject to change without notice.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents Introduction ........................1 Product Overview ........................1 System Requirements ....................... 2 Package Contents........................2 Installation ......................... 3 On-board USB memory drive ....................3 PC Setup ............................3 Optical Setup ..........................4 Troubleshooting ......................... 4 Operation ........................... 6 Introduction ..........................6 Overview ............................

  • Page 5: Introduction

    Introduction Introduction 1.1 Product Overview The Qstick contains a complete spectrometer in an extraordinarily small USB stick design. The wavelength range covers the whole visible spectrum from 360 to 740 nm with a resolution of 1.2 nm. It is controlled and operated by the spectroscopy software ‘‘Waves‘‘, which not only includes unique sophisticated algorithms for data acquisition and evaluation, but also provides these features through a clear and straightforward interface.

  • Page 6: System Requirements

    Qstick User Manual Applications o Portable measurements o Colorimetry o Light analysis o Forensic analysis o System integration o Process control and monitoring 1.2 System Requirements o Windows 8, 7, Vista or XP (32 or 64 bit) o .NET Framework Version 3.5 (available as a free download) o USB 2.0 1.3 Package Contents o Qstick spectrometer...

  • Page 7: Installation

    Installation Installation 2.1 On-board USB memory drive The Qstick includes an USB memory drive. When you connect the Qstick to a PC, this drive appears with a new drive letter in the Windows Explorer. It contains the drivers, application software and a PDF file of this manual. 2.2 PC Setup Please install the software by double-clicking on the WavesSetup.exe file on this drive.

  • Page 8: Optical Setup

    Qstick User Manual 2.3 Optical Setup The light enters the Qstick spectrometer through a small slit. You can see this slit if you look into the fiber optical connector on the front side of the device. If the light you wish to measure is quite strong, you may simply point the spectrometer towards it.
  • Page 9 Installation Waves cannot find the device Please disconnect and reconnect your spectrometer, close the ‘‘Device Config’’ window, wait a few seconds and open this window again from the File menu. If this doesn’t help, please restart your computer and try again. Please also check our website www.rgb-laser.com for software updates.

  • Page 10: Operation

    Qstick User Manual Operation 3.1 Introduction Waves was designed from the ground up to provide a clean and straightforward user interface that does not stand in your way, without compromising advanced features or precision. If you are new to spectroscopy, you’ll find it easy to start using the software and taking spectra without having to worry about details like calibration or dark spectra.

  • Page 11: Taking Spectra

    Operation The main window consists of several panels: 1. The Exposure Toolbar, where you can start and stop taking spectra and set the acquisition parameters. 2. The Spectrum List shows all spectra that are currently in memory. 3. The Properties Panel consists of four tab pages and displays many parameters and values of the spectrum currently selected in the Spectrum List.

  • Page 12: Spectrum Display

    Qstick User Manual can set a maximum exposure time in order to prevent very long exposure times in cases when there is simply no signal. Spectra can be taken with or without spectral sensitivity correction (see chapter 3.9 for more details). If the lightmeter button [ ] is selected, the spectral sensitivity of the spectrometer is automatically corrected and the intensity axis is measured in nW/nm.

  • Page 13: Working With Spectra

    Operation display of the grid, peak positions and peak heights on and off and see the coordinates of the current position of the mouse pointer. If you zoom into the wavelength axis, a scrollbar appears at the bottom of the diagram for easily moving the displayed part of the spectrum.

  • Page 14: File Operations

    Qstick User Manual Some of the values in the Properties Panel are saved when saving the spectrum to a file. The others are recalculated when the spectrum is reloaded. 3.6 File Operations You can save the selected spectrum or the whole Spectrum List using the commands in the File menu.

  • Page 15: Spectrum Analysis

    Operation 3.7 Spectrum Analysis The Analysis menu offers several ways to evaluate and modify spectra: Adjust Offset This adds a constant value to all data points of the selected spectrum. The software suggests a estimated value for compensating an offset, but you may also choose any other value.

  • Page 16: Absorption, Reflection And Transmission Measurements

    Qstick User Manual Show Strip Chart You can use the Strip Chart window to display a characteristic spectrum value as a function of another value for all spectra in the list. The most common task is to display the temporal evolution of a characteristic value. This window can be kept open while taking new spectra to see the changes as they happen.
  • Page 17 Operation Please note that the absorbance is sometimes defined as the base 10 logarithm and sometimes as the natural (base e) logarithm. In Waves, you can choose in the Options window from the File menu which logarithm to use. Measurement In order to measure absorption, reflection or transmission you need to take a reference spectrum of the light source first.

  • Page 18: Calibration

    Qstick User Manual These options only determine how to display the spectra in the diagram. The do not modify the actual spectrum data. If your light source does not cover the full range of the spectrometer, the calculated spectrum may show large amounts of noise outside of the wavelength range of your light source.
  • Page 19 Operation may not be as accurate as later measurements. Therefore, for precise measurements we recommend not to use the auto-exposure feature and to set a fixed exposure time instead. Wavelengths The mapping of the individual pixels of the spectrum to wavelengths is done using a third-order polynomial.
  • Page 20 Qstick User Manual For your Qstick spectrometer, this dark spectrum has already been taken, is stored in the device and automatically subtracted from the measured spectrum each time you take a new spectrum. Because the dark spectrum depends on the exposure time in a non-linear way, there are actually multiple dark spectra stored in the device for a certain number of exposure times.
  • Page 21 Operation file, the software calculated the spectral sensitivity of your spectrometer and shows it as a dark green line. To save this new calibration to the device, click ‘‘OK’’. If you also want to calibrate the absolute scale of the intensity axis, you need to take a spectrum and also need to know the absolute optical power (in Watts) of this spectrum.

  • Page 22: Software Development Kit

    Qstick User Manual Software Development Kit The Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Qstick spectrometer can be used to control the spectrometer and take spectra from your own custom software. It includes a Windows Dynamic Link Library (DLL) for the .NET framework, documentation and sample code.

  • Page 23: Adding The Sdk Library To Your Project

    Software Development Kit ExtendedSpectrometer is a base class for a spectrometer with more features. Qstick implements all the features specified in the abstract base classes in order to control a Qstick spectrometer. The library also includes the SimulatedSpectrometer class, that may be used instead to test your software in case you don't have a real device available, just like choosing ‘‘Simulated Spectrometer’’...

  • Page 24: Taking A Spectrum

    Qstick User Manual 4.5 Taking a spectrum First you need to instantiate a Qstick object to control your spectrometer. You could use the class constructor, of course, but in most cases it’ll be easier to search for spectrometers by calling the static SearchDevices() method and then choose from one of the returned objects, which are actual instances of the Qstick class.

  • Page 25: Technical Support

    Technical Support Technical Support 5.1 Getting Help If you have any questions, comments or requests concerning your Qstick spectrometer or the Waves software, please go to http://www.rgb-laser.com click on ‘‘Contact’’ on the menu bar. There you’ll also find details on how to contact our Technical Support Team via e-mail or telephone.

  • Page 26: Specifications

    Qstick User Manual Specifications Optical Wavelength range: 360 - 740 nm Numerical Aperture: 0.07 Grating: 1800 lines/mm Entrance slit: 30 µm Spectral resolution (FWHM): 1.2 nm Stray light: < 0.5 % Optical interface: SMA connector Electronic Dynamic range: 300 : 1 (full scale, t = 1 s) Detector: 2500 pixel linear CCD detector...

  • Page 27: Certifications And Compliance

    Certifications and Compliance Certifications and Compliance RoHS Declaration of Conformity The manufacturer RGB Lasersysteme GmbH Donaupark 13 93309 Kelheim declares that the following product Qstick Version 1.0 contains no toxic substances which are specified in the RoHS Directive 2002/95/EG. The conformity to RoHS Directive 2002/95/EG is confirmed. This declaration applies to all models of the above named product version.

This manual is also suitable for:

Qwave

Table of Contents