Its 2021, the 21st year of the twenty-first century. It feels good! This year Pantone selected two “colors of the year”, ultimate grey and illuminating yellow. They look good together. To borrow their words these colors convey "strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.” We don’t often get results like that when we measure light and it sounds okay, we accept that it takes all kinds. Stay safe and Happy New Year!

XUV electron impact source from McPherson works well for wavelength calibration in the 1~20 nanometer region. The anode target materials are easy to exchange, tuning the emission energy, even while in vacuum. Popular accessories include collimation, focus optics and glancing angle monochromators for ultimate spectral purity.

Sodium salicylate scintillator is a very effective method of visualizing invisible ultraviolet light. Where UV light shorter than 300 nm hits the scintillator, you see down-converted wavelengths at 420 nm (purple). It works with a 'regular' photodiode or photomultiplier tube. Use our coated windows, or send us yours, we’ll coat them for you.

According to Nature.com there are a few science-type events to watch for in 2021. We can guess the list will include vaccines, climate change and mars. Thermonuclear fusion failed to make the list…again. Also, according to some guy on TikTok, 01/12/2021 may be the exact date that the world collapses.

Do you need to collect light in the deep UV? Or maybe the Infrared? If a monochromator is expected to deliver the most light possible or to collect a weak signal, higher collection efficiency, faster f number, and optimized optics are essential. The McPherson 207 and 207V are ideal for signal limited experiments in the UV or the IR.

NEW! Aberration-corrected flat-field diffraction grating for 50~200 nm now available for the popular McPherson 251MX spectrometer. This grating helps link atmospheric-UVC to the Extreme-UV (XUV). Best for microchannel plate intensifiers or direct detection CCD detectors. Aberration correction provides best spectral resolution. 2400, 1200, 300 and 120 g/mm available now.

Get in touch today if you think we can help.
Meantime, stay safe and healthy! Happy 2021!