The Quest ATR is our class-leading single reflection ATR-FTIR accessory. It is ready for all the most routine liquids and solids analyses right out of the box – but it can be augmented by numerous additional options for ease of sampling certain substances or practically improving the control of an experiment.
The Quest product range
The full range of accessories for Quest includes “Flat” and “Liquid” crystal pucks – the latter featuring a recessed sample area to contain low viscosity liquids, and two different kinds of pressure anvil for solid samples such as powders or plastic beads.
Choice of crystal material
The main factors behind the choice of an ATR element material for IR spectroscopy are as follows:
- Chemical compatibility – will your samples react with or corrode the ATR crystal?
- Spectral range – does the material transmit IR light in the parts of the spectrum where you are going to be looking?
- Refractive index – since ATR is a technique that uses total internal reflection, the refractive index of the crystal material needs to be higher than the sample’s own refractive index. Conversely, higher refractive index materials reduce the effective pathlength of the ATR technique, so there is a trade off between selecting a crystal with sufficient refractive index for the technique to work at all and one that will give strong signals from the sample.
More details are available in our dedicated technical note:
Arrow Si ATR
The Arrow™ is a sample slide with an in-built silicon ATR internal reflection element. Each slide is designed to be used for a single measurement and may be used to develop more complex sample preparation routines such as batches of paint samples.
The system is suitable for analysing liquids and colloidal mixtures. The low-cost nature of the silicon (as compared to diamond) makes sacrificing Arrow™ chips in order to functionalise or pre-treat the silicon a practical reality.
It also helps to avoid cross-contamination between samples by using each silicon element only once per campaign.
Quest heated puck
The heated puck is useful for studying temperature-dependent phase transitions in mixtures and conformational changes in proteins and other large molecules. It is the newest addition to the Quest family.
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