A spectrophotometer is a device used in laboratories to determine what the beam of electromagnetic radiation or light is and thus identify, qualify, and quantify how intense it is.

In the same way, it allows to determine its efficiency, sensitivity, resolution and spectral range. These will depend on the design variability and the choice of optical components it contains.

What is a Spectrophotometer for?

The spectrophotometer serves basically to know what is the concentration of the substances in a solution and thus analyze under the quantitative approach. It is an instrument used in the laboratory that has as main objective to diagnose, taking into account the properties of light and the interaction with other substances.

How does it work?

Its operation is based on the light of the special lamp it has that is guided by a connector that selects and separates the light from the wavelength, and then passes through a sample.

The intensity of the light coming out of that sample is captured and compared to the intensity of the light that struck that sample. With this information the transmittance can be calculated, which will depend on the concentration of the substance.

Basically, its operation is to illuminate a sample with white light, and then calculate how much light is reflected through a series of wavelength intervals.

Types of Spectrophotometer

There are different types of spectrophotometers, so you can make good use of this instrument, I show you below, what are their types:

Single beam spectrophotometer: Light is transported from the sample to the detector, so a reference is needed to develop the analysis.

The Split Beam Spectrophotometer: Light is divided into two paths, the one that passes through the monochromator to the sample and then to the detector, and the one that passes to the detector that is used to correct variations of the light emitted by the lamp.

Double beam spectrophotometer: The light through two paths to the compartments, and each has its own detector. One goes to the sample and the other to the reference.

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer: This type of spectrophotometer works taking into account the wavelengths of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum. These are based on the fact that the molecules that absorb the frequencies are part of the characteristics of its structure.

Visible UV spectrophotometer: The objective is to measure the light that passes through the sample, and then compare it with its intensity before it passes through some solution or sample. Its relationship is called transmittance, and it is expressed by means of a percentage.

Knowing all types of spectrophotometer will make it much easier to use. In addition, what are each of them used for, without having problems when identifying it together with other instruments.

Characteristics of a Spectrophotometer

In order to correctly identify and use a laboratory instrument, it is important that you know its physical characteristics, so you will know how it works and what its parts are. Here are the main characteristics of the spectrophotometer:

• Light source: The light source is the one that illuminates the sample. For the measurement to be reliable it must meet certain conditions, such as stability, spectral energy distribution and addressability.
• Monochrome: It has the ability to completely isolate the radiations of the desired wavelength, thus achieving a monochromatic light.
• Sample compartment: This is the spectrophotometer component where the interaction takes place, i.e. where the sample to be worked is placed.
• Detector: It is in charge of knowing the radiation to be analyzed and knowing what type of response it faces, whether it is photons or heat.
• Logger: This is the one that converts the physical elements to equal numbers that are analyzed.
• Photodetectors: These are the ones that receive the signal simultaneously with the visible spectrum, in order to reduce the measurement time and minimize the other parts of the apparatus.

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