User's Manual

®
Ocean Optics with Xplorer GLX Spectrometer Analysis Configuration Screen
5
Data Acquisition Tab
Integration Time Integration time is analogous to the shutter speed
of a camera. The higher the integration time, the longer the detector
monitors incoming light. Adjust the integration time so that the greatest
amount of light that you anticipate for your application causes a signal
of about 85% of the spectrometer's capability (3500 counts out of 4096
counts maximum, for example).
Integration Time Units Use this option to specify whether the inte-
gration time above is expressed in milliseconds or microseconds.
Average This parameter specifies the number of discrete spectral
acquisitions that the GLX collects and averages before displaying or
recording a spectrum. The higher the value, the better the
signal-to-noise ratio (S:N). The S:N will improve by the square root of
the number of scans averaged.
Boxcar This parameter sets the boxcar smoothing width. Boxcar
smoothing averages groups of adjacent pixels. For example, if the value
is 5, the GLX averages each pixel with 5 pixels to its left and 5 pixels to
its right (a total of 11 pixels). The greater this value, the smoother the
data and the higher the S:N. If the value is too high, a loss in spectral
resolution will result. The S:N will improve by the square root of the
number of pixels averaged.
Lamp Tab
Lamp Enable If you have the Integrated Light Source connected to
your spectrometer, use this option to turn it on and off. It is on by
default.
Elec. Dark Correction This option enables or disables the correc-
tion of the spectral data for the electrical dark signal. The effect is to
shift the entire spectrum vertically so it reads close to zero counts in the
absence of light.
Color Temperature (K) If you know the color temperature of the
lamp that you are using for the reference scan, enter it here in units of
kelvins. The GLX uses this value to calculate relative irradiance. (If you
do not plan to use the relative irradiance measurement, the value of this
parameter does not matter.)
Time Acquisition Tab
Note: To enter this tab, you must have saved dark and reference scans.
Scan Mode There are three choices: Scope (or “Spectral Scope”),
Time Acquisition, and Beer’s Law. See “Collecting Data” below for
descriptions of these modes. The other three parameters in this tab affect
Time Acquisition and Beer’s Law modes only.
Wavelength This parameter specifies the wavelength (in nm) to be
monitored.
Bandwidth Use this parameter to set the wavelength range to be
monitored. The value of Bandwidth is equal to the number of pixels on
Data Acquisition tab
Lamp tab
Time Acquisition tab