The
SFS-Cube™
is a compact scanning spectrometer designed to measure the Spectral
Fluorescence Signature (SFS) of liquid, powder and solid samples. The SFS is an
excitation/emission matrix of spectral intensity of a sample with filtered out
elastic (Rayleigh) scattering. The SFS-Cube™ is optically designed as an
all-reflection spectrometer to operate in a wide spectral range with no
chromatic aberrations.
The device has 2
configurations and can be used either:
- with optical fibers to conduct light to and
from the sample;
- or a traditional 90-degree
fluorescence measurement configuration with a small quartz cuvette for holding
the liquid sample (~4ml).
The analyzer can be
used in a large variety of spectrofluorometry applications, including the qualitative
and quantitative analysis of the organic constituents in liquid, powder and
solid samples, including PAH, oils, lubricants, phenols, organic chemicals,
etc., as well as living materials (plants, bacteria, viruses, spores, etc.). SFS-Cube™
can work as a quick screening tool in an industrial environment, especially to
reduce the number of routine and time-consuming analyses, giving quick
qualitative and quantitative information about the changes in the oil or other
chemical substance under investigation. The principle merits of this technique
are its high sensitivity, selectivity, and simplicity of the operating
procedure.
The principal
optical layout of SFS-Cube™ is a front-face scheme (when using the fiber
option) or 90-degree scheme (when using cuvette) for sample excitation and
fluorescence measurements. Typically the detection of the substances of
interest occurs in the presence of matrix effects by background surfaces or
other chemicals in the measured sample. SFS technique uses several wavelengths
of excitation to allow one to separate the fluorescence spectra of substances
of interest from the background.

SFS-Cube™ software window
The SFS analysis is done using pattern recognition algorithms by decomposing the measured SFS and comparing the patterns with corresponding spectral data in the SFS library. Different compounds in a mixture can be recognized and quantified without separation of individual substances.