JPS63200039A - Illumination mechanism for chromatographic scanner and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce cost, by performing illumination by moving the wavelength of a measuring spectroscope to the specific wavelength of zero order light or that of a preset visible region. CONSTITUTION:When the lid 38 of a specimen chamber is opened, a switch 40 is turned OFF and, when a light source during lighting is a deuterium lamp 10, CPU 48 sets a spectroscope so that the output wavelength thereof becomes 0nm (0 order light). By this mechanism, a pulse motor 44 for a wavelength is driven through an interface 58 and a rotary lattice 48 is rotated to set an output wavelength 0nm. When the light source during lighting is a tungsten lamp 8, an illumination wavelength is set to a specific wavelength of about 500nm and the lattice 18 is rotated so that the output wavelength becomes 500nm. Next, when the lid 38 is closed, the switch 40 is turned ON and CPU 48 moves the wavelength of the spectroscope to a predetermined wavelength for measurement inputted from a keyboard. Thereafter, an X-Y stage is moved according to a usual program and the scanning on a specimen plate 30 is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is applicable to thin layer chromatography scanners and spectrophotometers.
This invention relates to an illumination mechanism that indicates the position of a beam of light irradiated onto a sample.

(Prior Art) A thin-layer chromatography scanner scans a light beam irradiated onto a thin-layer plate to detect spots on a sample spread on the thin-layer plate. In this case, the lid of the sample chamber may be opened to check which position on the thin plate is irradiated with the light beam. However, when irradiation is performed with a wavelength in the ultraviolet region, the position of the light beam on the thin layer plate cannot be seen, and the scanning position cannot be visually confirmed.

Therefore, an illumination mechanism is provided so that the position of the light beam can be visually seen.

In the illumination mechanism of a conventional thin layer chromatography scanner, the light paths from the tungsten lamps for the illumination mechanism are merged after the exit slit of the spectrometer, and the light from the tungsten lamps is irradiated onto the thin layer plate.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional mechanism in which a light source and optical system are separately provided for the illumination mechanism, an extra mechanism is required, resulting in high cost.

Since the luminous flux for illumination and the luminous flux for measurement are switched and used, a mechanism for confirming which luminous flux is being used is also required. If such a mechanism is provided, there will be problems regarding light shielding, and the structure will become even more complicated.

Furthermore, since the light source for illumination is provided separately from the light source for measurement, the number of lamps for the light source increases, and the frequency of replacing lamps when they burn out increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide an illumination mechanism that has the same functions as conventional illumination mechanisms without using a complicated mechanism.

(Means for Solving the Problems) As shown in FIG. 6) the wavelength of 0
It is equipped with a spectrometer wavelength shifting means (4) that moves to the next light or a preset specific wavelength in the visible range.

(Function) In the present invention, without providing a light source or optical system for the illumination mechanism, a measurement optical system is used to switch the output wavelength of the spectrometer to a wavelength for illumination when confirming the irradiation position.

(Example) FIG. 2 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a thin layer chromatography scanner.

8 is a tungsten lamp, 10 is a deuterium (D:) lamp, and 12 is a tungsten lamp 8 and a deuterium lamp 1.
This is a light source switching mirror that selects either one of 0 and makes it enter the spectrometer. 16 is an entrance slit of the spectrometer, 18 is a diffraction grating of the spectrometer, and 14 is a cut filter, and the light from the light source selected by the mirror 12 is transmitted through the filter 14 as necessary and sent from the entrance slit 16 to the spectrometer. is incident on the diffraction grating 18 of.

20 is a collimator mirror of the spectrometer, and 22 is an exit slit of the spectrometer. The light separated by the diffraction grating 18 is reflected by a mirror 20 and exits from an exit slit 22. The exit slit 22 includes slits of multiple types of shapes.
A slit with an appropriate shape is selected and used depending on the purpose.

24 is a concave mirror, 26 is a plane mirror, and 28 is a crystal window plate. The light emitted from the spectrometer passes through mirrors 24 and 26 and is irradiated onto the sample plate 30 from the crystal window plate 28. A part of the incident light is reflected by the crystal window plate 28, enters the monitoring photomultiplier tube 32, is detected, and is used for monitoring.

The measurement light is incident on the sample plate 30, the reflected light from the irradiation point is incident on the reflection photomultiplier tube 34 and detected, and the light transmitted through the sample plate 30 is incident on the transmission photomultiplier tube 36. detected.

38 is a lid of the sample chamber, and a switch 40 that operates in conjunction with the lid 38 is provided. The switch 40 is turned on when the M2S is closed and turned off when the lid 38 is opened. The output signal of the switch 40 is taken into the control section 42.

In the spectrometer, the diffraction grating 18 is driven by a wavelength pulse motor 44.
rotated by On the support base of the diffraction grating 18,
An origin detection section 46 including a photocoupler is provided to detect the origin of rotation of the diffraction grating 18.

In the control unit 42, the CPU 48 is connected to the bus 50, and the RO
In addition to the M52 and RAM 54, various interfaces are connected to the CPU 48 via a bus 50.

The ROM 52 stores information such as moving the stage holding the sample plate 30, driving the exit slit 22, and controlling the sample plate 30.
A program is stored that calculates the area of the detected spot above, calculates the peak, and scans the spectrometer. The RAM 54 stores measurement data, various parameters (wavelength scanning range, etc.), and is used to store spectra and perform data processing.

The switch 40 is the sample chamber MI10/interface 56
It is connected to the bus 50 via. The wavelength pulse motor 44 is connected to the bus 50 via a wavelength motor I10/interface 58.

60 is an A/D converter that converts the measurement data into a digital signal and takes it in, and 62 is a backup RAM that stores parameters such as measurement conditions when the power is turned off.
, 64 is a key control interface for connecting a keyboard, 66 is a light source control interface for controlling which of the lights GS and TO is turned on, 68 is a clock interface for inputting a clock signal, 7
0 is an XY stage interface that controls the XY stage that holds the sample plate 30.

The spectrometer wavelength shifting means 4 includes a CPU 48, a ROM 52, and a R
This is realized by AM54.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

When the lid 38 of the sample chamber is opened, the switch 40 is turned off. In step S1), when the CPU 48 recognizes that the switch 40 is turned off, if the light source that is turned on is the deuterium lamp 10, the CPU 48 sets the spectrometer to a state where the output wavelength is O.
nm (0th order light) (step S2.
S3). According to the settings in the CPU 48, the wavelength pulse motor 44 is driven via the interface 58.
The diffraction grating 18 is rotated to set the output wavelength to Onm.

Further, when the light source lit in step S2 is the tungsten lamp 8, the illumination wavelength is set to a specific wavelength of around 500 nm, which has high visibility in the visible range (step S4). At this time, interface 5
8, the pulse motor 44 is driven to rotate the diffraction grating 18 so that the output wavelength is 500 nm.

Next, when the sample chamber lid 38 is closed, the switch 40 is turned on. The CPU 48 recognizes that the switch 40 is turned on, and moves the wavelength of the spectrometer to the predetermined wavelength for measurement input from the keyboard (step S5). Thereafter, the XY stage is moved according to a normal program to scan the sample plate 30.

In the example, a tungsten lamp and a deuterium lamp are used as light sources, but when a mercury lamp is used as a light source, the wavelength for illumination is Onm,
Alternatively, the ROM 52 is programmed to select either the emission line spectrum wavelength of 546 nm or 577 nm.

Although the above embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a thin layer chromatography scanner, there are cases where it is desired to confirm the irradiation position of a sample using a spectrophotometer as well. The invention is equally applicable to spectrophotometers.

When applying the present invention to a spectrophotometer, when the spectrophotometer is stopped without performing spectrum measurements, the spectrometer is set to zero wavelength (zero-order light) when using a deuterium lamp, and to a visible wavelength with high visual sensitivity when using a halogen lamp or tungsten lamp. It is possible to provide an illumination mode to be set. Then, it may be possible to input from a keyboard whether or not to use such illumination mode.

(Effects of the Invention) In the present invention, illumination is performed by shifting the wavelength of the measurement spectrometer to zero-order light or a preset specific wavelength in the visible range, so that the optical system for illumination as in the conventional one is not required. is no longer necessary, reducing costs.

Furthermore, since the structure is simplified, the failure rate is reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of one embodiment. 2...Switch, 4...Spectroscope wavelength moving means, 6...Spectrometer, 40...Switch, 42...Control unit .

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Illumination mechanism such as a chromato scanner equipped with a switch and a spectrometer wavelength shifting means that shifts the wavelength of a measurement spectrometer to zero-order light or a preset specific wavelength in the visible range based on the output signal of the switch. .