DeltaNu, a manufacturer of spectrometers for a wide range of applications, wins its second R+D 100 Award in as many years with its RockHound model spectrometer
The RockHound is a handheld Raman spectrometer made by DeltaNu especially for earth science applications and was named an R+D 100 Award winner for 2006 by R+D Magazine.
The R+D 100 Award is a mark of excellence that is known to industry, government, and academia and is given to companies that produce the most technologically significant products in the scientific market over the past year, as judged by experts selected by R+D Magazine.
DeltaNu's CEO, Keith Carron, states that: "Our development team has once again provided the market place with a unique product£".
The RockHound is said to be the first Raman spectrometer ever designed for use in the field and laboratory to identify unknown rocks, minerals, and gems and to study geological processes.
Raman spectroscopy is not new to geology, but a rugged, portable, battery-powered, hand-held field instrument is.
The RockHound comes with a library of mineral spectra pre-loaded on the system which currently consists of 200 minerals and is expect to surpass 1000 minerals by the end of this year.
The point and shoot design of the RockHound allows amateur and professional geologists to point at a sample and acquire a spectrum with the push of button, right in the field for immediate, real-time identification using the library.
Carron adds that: "our library is designed such that a user can easily add and remove their own samples from the library".
The software's real-time fluorescence correction software also corrects for natural fluorescence that is sometime found in minerals.
DeltaNu was founded in 1997 as a spin-out from the University of Wyoming's chemistry department.
Since the introduction of the Advantage Series spectrometers the company has expanded its production to a complete offering of bench top and portable Raman spectrometers, Raman microscopes, and accessories.
DeltaNu won its first R+D award in 2005 for the Investigator, co-developed with CEM.
