Innovation truly is the development of new things and applying them to useful applications. Congratulations to our team at Ocean Optics. They have been recognised by an award from The Analytical Scientist magazine for helping to innovate one of 2013′s most innovative analytical technologies.
While it is great to be recognized by the magazine, and also as a finalist for the industry society SPIE Prism Awards for photonics innovation, I think here’s a great example of a practical application of what thinking openly about innovation can mean.
The accolades are a result of Ocean Optics working with the team at Snowy Range Instruments in Wyoming, USA to bring to market a new innovation in spectroscopy – the world’s first handheld, common battery powered, Raman spectrometer that uses a new high resolution sampling technique called Raster Orbital Scanning (ROS).
Raman Spectroscopy has been around since the 1920s. The inventor, C.V. Raman, won the Nobel Prize for its discovery in 1930. The idea is simple in concept, but very difficult to measure. Essentially, you shine light on molecules and they get energetic – in a sense they “dance”. After a while, they get “tired” and “relax”, losing their energy and as they lose energy they emit light of a different wavelength than was used to excite them.
Just like most people, every molecule “dances” differently and “relaxes” differently as well. By measuring the light when they relax, you can tell what molecules you have. It took the invention of lasers to really make Raman spectroscopy a common research tool – that started in the 1970s but took nearly 30 years to have stable, off-the-shelf laboratory instruments.
With the advent of laser diodes for telecom and DVD recorders/players the technology “took off” in the last 10 years where smaller laboratory instruments were made and finally clunky handheld instruments for healthcare, drug and explosive detection.
Measuring the relaxation of molecules is tricky. The light isn’t very bright so you need sensitive detectors. Such detectors are expensive and often need a lot of power.
The scientists at Snowy range thought about the problem differently. Rather than look at light coming from a small spot on the sample, why not quickly move around the excitation light and look for the relaxation light coming from multiple spots and ROS was born.
This was a breakthrough that made a difference – an instrument could be made smaller and less expensive, using a lower powered laser and have 5-10x better performance than competing systems because of looking at a larger area of sample efficiently.
Ocean Optics took the idea and, working with the Snowy Range engineers, developed the use cases, packaging, and key features that would make it successful in the market. Together they turned a clever engineering idea into a true market innovation.
What makes the new ROS technique so novel is that even samples consisting of complex mixtures of chemicals can be accurately analysed without needing any sample preparation. This is important for field work where often the interest is to quickly know “what is there” versus “how much is there”.
Even a piece of ordinary paper can serve as the sample surface. The new method preserves the analytical accuracy of the high resolution of the laser beam but minimizes energy build-up on the sample. This lets scientists test larger areas for better results and lets them test delicate or unstable samples like explosives. It also means that Raman Spectroscopy analysis can be used outside of laboratories in point-of-care (at bedside, in an ambulance, or in the operating room) medical diagnostic testing.
Ocean Optics and Snowy Range show that the sum of great ideas + useful application + crisp implementation = Success. Well done all!