After evaluation of a first prototype of the Infrared Laser Driven Adiabatic Microcalorimeter important improvements have been introduced in the implementation of this instrument. By splitting the infrared beam with a semi-transparent mirror, a double beam configuration has been adopted. Two flat cylindrical cells made of quartz are excited by the laser beam on one of its transparent faces. On the opposite face of each cell, a set of fast temperature sensors consisting of a set of platinum RTD, form an accurate measurement bridge for temperature changes. Two possible forms of operation are being tested and the corresponding analysis algorithms are being developed. The first consists of a real time differential measurement working with a single signal and the second one consists of separate measurements of the response of each cell. One of the cells contains the biopolymer solution under study and the other the solvent (buffer) used. In analogy to the strategy followed in Fourier NMR, the response to a heat pulse generated by the impact of the laser beam constitutes the time domain signal and the subsequent application of the FFT algorithm gives us the spectral components from which the energetic and dynamic information is extracted.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 86 publications
