ATR Crystals and Prisms

Attenuated Total Refection (ATR) prisms operate by measuring the changes that occur in a totally reflected infrared beam when the beam comes in contact with a sample. WIth the ATR method, light penetration into the sample for total reflection is dependent on the refractive index of the prism and the sample, the wavelength and also the incidence angle. ATR is the best choice for solids, gels, pastes and liquid samples.

Advantages:

With ATR crystals there is minimum time for sampling preparation, easy cleaning and short sampling time. On top of this, the sample will not corrode the ATR prisms.

Drawbacks:

ATR is not ideal for analyzing bulk samples and the crystals must be cleaned between sampling to avoid cross-contamination. Moreover, ATR will only give you a surface measurement, and is not ideal if there is a non-homogenous sample.

The materials most commonly used are ZnSe, Ge and KRS-5 and the most common configurations are trapezoids, prism rods and paralellograms. If you are looking for something that we don’t have please contact us here.