Absolute radiometric calibrations are important for measurements of the atmospheric spectral radiance. Such measurements can be used to determine actinic fluxes, the properties of aerosols and clouds, and the shortwave energy budget. Conventional calibration methods in the laboratory are based on calibrated light sources and reflectors and are expensive, time consuming and subject to relatively...

By means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), this study set out to investigate the application of plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) for the surface modification of ProTaper NiTi rotary instruments. This study was undertaken because the PIII method was perceived to have the potential of developing into a standard surface modification tech...

Silicon photomultipliers are novel solid state photodetectors that recently became commercially available. The goal of this paper was to investigate their suitability for low light level detection in miniaturized functional near-infrared spectroscopy instruments. Two measurement modules with a footprint of 26×26 mm(2) were built, and the signal-to-noise ratio was assessed for variable source-de...

Multi-object spectroscopy via custom slitmasks is a key capability on three instruments at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Before observers can acquire spectra they must complete a complex procedure to align each slit with its corresponding science target. We developed the Slitmask Alignment Tool (SAT), to replace a complex, inefficient, and error-prone slitmask alignment process that often resulte...

Remote sensing in the earth sciences has grown remarkably over the last decade. This growth has been spurred by rapid advances in technology that have opened up new avenues of analysis and inquiry. Of these advances, the merging of spectroscopy and imaging has been the most important. Spectroscopy has been used as a quantitative tool in the laboratory for many years and there exists a wealth of...

SAFIRE-A (Spectroscopy of the Atmosphere using Far InfraRed Emission – Airborne) is a Far Infrared Fourier Transform spectrometer operating onboard the M-55 Geophysica stratospheric aircraft. The spectrometer is one of the instruments participating to the scientific chemical flights of the ESABC (ENVISAT Stratospheric Aircraft and Balloon campaigns) campaigns held in July and October 2002 from ...

Three advanced technologies to measure soil carbon (C) density (g C m(-2)) are deployed in the field and the results compared against those obtained by the dry combustion (DC) method. The advanced methods are: a) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), b) Diffuse Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIFTS), and c) Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS). The measurements and so...

The new generation of spectromicroscopes opens up new fields of nanophysics. Beyond the impressive spatial and spectral resolutions delivered by these new instruments - an obvious example being the Hermes machine conceived, designed and built by O. L. Krivanek, who is honoured in this journal issue - here we wish to address the motivations and conditions required to get the best out of them. We...

A new electro-optically modulated optical solid-state ~MOSS! spectrometer has been constructed for high temporal resolution measurement of the coherence of line radiation from plasmas. The instrument is an electro-optically modulated fixed delay polarization interferometer, or Fourier transform spectrometer. It has high light throughput compared with conventional grating based instruments of co...

The generation of particles in gas handling systems as a result of corrosion is a major concern in the microelectronics industry. The corrosion can be caused by the presence of trace quantities of water in corrosive gases such as HCl or HBr. Presently there are several commercial instruments that are capable of detecting trace water vapor with detection limits as low as 50 ppb in N2. However, n...