Acoustooptic tunable filters

Karlinsey, J.M. and Landers, J.P., Multicolor fluorescence detection on an electrophoretic microdevice using an acoustooptic tunable filter. Analytical Chemistry, 78, 5590-5596, 2006. 

Acoustooptic Tunable Filters. These are relatively new (commercially) on the process control scene. The physics of these devices are described in numerous articles (2, 5). As far as the operational performance of these systems is concerned, the best term is fast. Although, for practical purposes, the speed of the system is comparable to diode array and FT instruments, it does have several unique features. 

Because the wavelengths are produced by a radio frequency-driven transducer, random selection of wavelengths is possible. That is, unlike the grating or FT instruments, an analyst does not have to scan an entire spectrum—merely the desired wavelengths or specific sections of the spectrum. This is the feature that makes the acoustooptic tunable filter (AOTF) faster than the FT instruments for selected applications using partial scanning measurements. 

---