Choosing a spectrophotometer cuvette for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. Following the simple guide below will allow researchers to quickly and easily select the correct cuvette for any experiment.
Spectrophotometer or fluorometer cuvette
The most basic question to answer when selecting a bucket is what type of machine it goes in. If you go into a spectrophotometer, then the two parallel windows need to be polished. If a researcher is using a fluorometer, then all four optical windows must be polished. It is important to note that a spectrophotometer cuvette will not work on a fluorometer, but a fluorometer cuvette will work on a spectrophotometer.
What material is better?
Depending on the type of experiment, the material from which the cuvette is made is very important. For researchers working in the UV range, they need a special UV quartz that can transmit from 190-340 nm. The most common range that scientists work in is the visible or VIS range, which is 340-2000 nm. For this range there are three different materials available depending on the budget of a laboratory.
IR quartz is the most expensive material covering from 190 to 3500 nm. Next comes UV quartz that covers 190-2,500 nm. And the most economical option for a VIS experiment is optical glass that covers 340-2,000 nm. If an investigator does not want to reuse a cuvette, they can find disposable spectrophotometer cuvettes that can be thrown away after one use.
Which path of light to choose
The light paths are how many millimeters the light has to travel before leaving the spectrophotometer cuvette. Light paths can vary from very small, eg. 0.01mm, up to 200mm. The most important determining factor in selecting the proper light path is the sample size an investigator is using. If the researcher has a large sample, then a 10mm light path is the industry standard. If a scientist has a small sample that is very expensive, such as DNA / RNA, then they should use a small light path cuvette to preserve their sample.
Putting it all together
The above three factors, the spectrophotometer cuvette or the fluorometer cuvette, the material and the light path are the three fundamentals needed to choose a cuvette.
Once a researcher has answered these three questions, he is ready to choose the simplest characteristics, such as what type of coverage is best for the experiment.
Following these three simple guidelines makes choosing a spectrophotometer cuvette a breeze, even for new graduate students.