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Author: Subject: Building a Raman spectroscope: my attempt
Metacelsus
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[*] posted on 6-4-2015 at 12:48
Building a Raman spectroscope: my attempt


I am going to build a Raman spectroscope over the next few months. This thread is to document my work; I'm starting a new thread so as not to clutter existing ones.

First Steps:
I've bought a Toshiba TCD1304AP CCD detector, a Peltier cooler, a Nucleo F401RE microcontroller, and a power supply. I'm waiting for my laser (25 mW, 532 nM) to arrive. Currently, I'm working on the optics and electronics design (using Eagle to lay out the PCBs). I should be done with the designing by the end of the week.




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aga
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[*] posted on 6-4-2015 at 13:10


Do you have a Plan of how you will construct this ?

What are you going to use to filter out the excitation laser's wavelength ?




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[*] posted on 6-4-2015 at 20:46


Anxious to see what you develop.:D



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Metacelsus
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[*] posted on 7-4-2015 at 04:37


Yes, I have a plan. This is a school project (the school said I could do a project of my choice), but I will be doing it at home. I'll most likely use an edge filter for filtering out the laser wavelength. I also might try blocking it with a thin mirror after it comes out of the diffraction grating. I am going to use OSHpark for the PCBs, as I can't etch double-layered PCBs very well at home.

The laser arrived yesterday, by the way.




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[*] posted on 7-4-2015 at 06:11


A diagram would be useful here.



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[*] posted on 7-4-2015 at 11:22


Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese  
use an edge filter for filtering out the laser wavelength. I also might try blocking it with a thin mirror after it comes out of the diffraction grating.

It will be very interesting to see what results you get with each of those methods, either singly or together.

Please post details of the filter (and where to get one) .

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese  
I am going to use OSHpark for the PCBs, as I can't etch double-layered PCBs very well at home.


I use a strip of pcb and selloptape. Line the two transparencies up with the strip of pcb off to one edge and tape them to the strip.
When you put your board in there, use a couple more tabs of sellotape to hold the thing in place.

If that mob do them cheap enough, may as well save yourself the bother tho.

Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese  
The laser arrived yesterday, by the way.

Woohoo !

Can't wait to see some results.




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Metacelsus
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[*] posted on 26-4-2015 at 09:26
Update


Work has been going slowly, but steadily (my time is split between this and the TEMPO project). After a bit of trouble with the 3D printer, I managed to print all the parts for the spectroscope portion (I'll build this section before the Raman scattering one).

On another note, I learned not to trust sketchy $4.95 ATX power supplies from the surplus store. Of two I bought, one did nothing, and one made a small explosion (a bad capacitor, I think).

spectroscope.png - 407kBpeltier module.png - 270kB




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[*] posted on 26-4-2015 at 11:46


I am very interested, how do you plan to collect/ analyze your data?
I am attempting to build my own raman spectrometer.




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Metacelsus
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[*] posted on 26-4-2015 at 17:32


I'll use a CCD hooked up to a STM Nucleo board, with a USB connection to a computer.



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[*] posted on 26-4-2015 at 18:17


Will any window, lense and diffraction grating make noise in the spectr? I would be glad to make my own IR or Raman spectrometer, but the restriction on materials holds me back. Otherwise Raman spectrometer could be really cheap.
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[*] posted on 27-4-2015 at 04:59


I'm not sure how much noise will be present. Theoretically, my spectroscope (a Littrow configuration) should be able to get down to 1 nm resolution. However, this requires a very small slit width. If the signal-to-noise ratio is too small, I may need to increase the slit width to let more light in, thus sacrificing resolution.



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[*] posted on 28-4-2015 at 04:02


Cheddite did you hook up a ghost load on the ATX supply which did nothing? Often times they won't do anything unless one of their power lines atleast has a small resistive load IE a series resistor & LED or something.



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[*] posted on 28-4-2015 at 05:04


Yes, I did.



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[*] posted on 15-5-2015 at 00:37


I have been working on several variations of Lock-In Amplifiers since it is possible to detect signals buried in noise which can be orders of magnitude greater. Doing some searching as it relates to this area I found a very good paper that I thought I should post here. Have you given any thought to this approach? This thesis appears to be very applicable to your project.

Attachment: A Lock-In Amplifier for Fluorescent Light Detection.pdf (3.9MB)
This file has been downloaded 873 times




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[*] posted on 15-5-2015 at 04:58


A lock in amplifier solves a different problem. For a Raman signal on a CCD the thing to do is integrate and background subtract. Frames as long as possible as often as possible and just add the signal together. SNR will improve with the square root of the number of frames.
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[*] posted on 17-5-2015 at 11:44


I got my CCD working with the Nucleo, finally! Spectra (and more details) are soon to come.


The oscilloscope picture is the CCD partially blocked with a finger.

(Pictures of oscilloscopes, or at least 1950-s era ones, apparently don't show up very well: an interesting effect of the speed of the eye being slower than the speed of the camera.)

Photo on 5-17-15 at 3.24 PM #2.jpg - 260kB ccd test readout.png - 101kB

[Edited on 17-5-2015 by Cheddite Cheese]




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[*] posted on 17-5-2015 at 12:46


*watches eagerly*

This looks like a really low cost build. I'm really excited to see how you build your optics path. I like your approach so far. I may follow in your foot steps after I wrap up two of these projects and you have yourself some success.

edit - I really wish there was a subforum for building scientific instruments/tools. There's so much ingenuity on here.

[Edited on 17-5-2015 by smaerd]




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[*] posted on 17-5-2015 at 14:03


The hell with a subforum - keep it going !

I also eagerly await an outcome.




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[*] posted on 18-5-2015 at 15:28


I've set up a program to save the CCD data on my computer; here is a preliminary example of the CCD being physically blocked.


ccd test.PNG - 39kB




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[*] posted on 18-5-2015 at 16:05


Looking good! How are you talking to your microcontroller?



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[*] posted on 18-5-2015 at 16:30


I'm emulating a serial port over USB. (virtual port com3)



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[*] posted on 18-5-2015 at 17:10


That's an interesting approach. I always used the RXTX libraries with JAVA which is pretty limited, but its cross-platform, and pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The nice part of it is it lets you manipulate and display the data live (RAM permitting), gives you access to a UI if you want to perform tasks like background subtract or whatever. If you choose to go that route let me know and I can set you up with a lot of code that will save you tons of time.

Looks great though I check this thread probably five times a day.




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[*] posted on 21-5-2015 at 12:31
First Spectrum (not Raman, though)


This is of a red-orange laser diode:

Average of 8 scans, integration time 10 ms each. (I've found that more scans are better than longer integration times.)

I still need to calibrate the spectroscope to convert pixel number into wavelength, not to mention building the Raman scattering portion.

spectrum.PNG - 19kB

[Edited on 21-5-2015 by Cheddite Cheese]




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[*] posted on 21-5-2015 at 12:35


The spectrometer is a huge part of the story, and both smaerd and yourself are well on your way.

I feel a Tricorder bashing it's way into existence.

[Edited on 21-5-2015 by aga]




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[*] posted on 22-5-2015 at 06:01


Nice job so far Cheddite. What type/resolution ADC are you using?



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