Application – Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is a versatile and high-precision optical analytical tool that enables insights into materials, products and processes across a wide range of industries. Its applications span agriculture and food to biomedical science, chemistry, environmental monitoring, lighting, semiconductors and solar energy. Spectrometers are widely used across research fields and industrial applications.

Smart Agriculture & Food Quality

Modern agricultural and food processes rely on rapid, non-destructive optical measurements to enable precise analysis of crops, soil and food products. These measurements help optimize quality, safety, sustainability while ensuring customer satisfaction. Key applications include:

Chocolate profiling& quality: Absorbance spectroscopy plays a key role in assessing quality and consistency in chocolate production. The AvaSpec-NIR256-1.7-EVO and AvaSpec-NIR512-1.7-EVO deliver the exceptional performance, offering a sample speed of only 0.53 ms per scan and integration times as fast as 10 µs. This high resolution enables reliable detection of subtle compositional differences between dark and milk chocolates.

Sustainable Soil Management and Grain Analysis: Spectroscopy is at the forefront of modern soil and grain analysis, enabling precise monitoring of soil composition to optimize fertilizer use, plant health and improve crop yield. Avantes NIRLine spectrometers such as AvaSpec-NIR256-2.5-HSC-EVO and AvaSpec-NIR256-1.7-EVO provide the spectral range and sensitivity required to analyse moisture content and key quality parameters in grain. By integrating NIRLine spectrometers, robust near-infrared chemical profiling supports sustainable agricultural practices and reliable quality control.

Fruit Sorting and Ripeness Detection: Advanced optical measurement techniques enable efficient real-time monitoring of fruit quality during production, harvest and distribution in modern food industry. High sensitivity and broad VIS/NIR spectrometers including the AvaSpec-ULS2048CL-EVO and AvaSpec‑HS2048XL‑EVO provide the performance needed to evaluate key parameters such as sugar level and ripeness. These instruments support reliable fruit classification on sorting lines, improving sustainability, consistency, and overall product quality.

Milk and dairy composition: NIR spectroscopy offers an efficient solution for inspecting milk and dairy composition. Spectrometers such as AvaSpec‑Mini‑NIR or the AvaSpec‑NIR256/512‑1.7‑HSC‑EVO allow rapid and precise detection of fat, protein, moisture and carbohydrate content, making them valuable tool for in line diary process and optimization food industry.

Medical and biomedical

Sensitive optical detection enables new capabilities in clinical monitoring and life science research. From non-invasive diagnostics to advanced protein analysis, optical spectroscopy provides real-time and insight into biological tissues and fluids. Avantes spectrometers support innovations by delivering high sensitivity, high resolution and reliable performance across UV-Vis-NIR wavelengths, making them well-suited for both clinical environments and biomedical research.

Some key biomedical applications:

Smart Biopsy and Endoscopy: Spectroscopy delivers real-time reflectance spectra during endoscopic procedures. High sensitivity Avantes spectrometers, such as The AvaSpec-HS2048XL-EVO, provide more clinicians with detailed spectral information for diagnostic purposes. This enhances tissue assessment and enable high-precision differentiation between healthy and abnormal tissue using spectral biomarkers.
At Kimmy Photonics, we also offer compact light sources to meet illumination requirements of endoscopy, including the AvaLight-XE pulsed xenon source and the AvaLight-HAL-S-Mini tungsten halogen sources. These are available as housed standalone unites or as OEM modules for seamless system integration. For strong illumination in hard-to-reach areas, high power LS-HP1-DW monochromators provide high-intensity coupling into light guides.

Blood Perfusion, Pulse Oximetry, and Co-Oximetry (UV–Vis Spectroscopy): Ultra-low stray light performance across the UV–NIR range is essential for accurate measurement of hemoglobin derivatives, oxygen saturation used in co-oximetry, and blood flow in clinical monitoring applications. The AvaSpec ULS2048CL EVO is ideally suited for these measurements, enabling fast and accurate monitoring of oxygen levels and blood prefusion.

Protein Detection and Identification (UV–Vis Absorption & Fluorescence Spectroscopy: spectroscopy is also widely used for protein analysis in biomedical research and life science, where high sensitivity and measurement stability are essential. Avantes StarLine spectrometers offer with the required sensitivity and performance, making them well-suited for both absorbance and fluorescence-based detection methods.

Fluorescence and Tissue Characterization: In biomedical research, Fluorescence spectroscopy provides precise tissue analysis and dermal studies, as it enables the detection of small biochemical changes through weak autofluorescence signals in the visible and NIR ranges.

The AvaSpec-ULS2048XL+, combined with dedicated fluorescence fiber bundles, provides the sensitivity required for these demanding applications. It also supports efficient real-time measurements with integration times down to 2 microseconds and high-speed data transfer via USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet, ensuring sharper, more reliable and accurate fluorescence-based tissue analysis.

Osteoarthritis Treatment Monitoring: Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is an emerging tool in biomedical research for assessing joint health and supporting improve standards of care in osteoarthritis treatment. By measuring reflectance spectra in the NIR range, researchers can non-invasively and non-destructively evaluate changes in bone and cartilage associated with disease progression.

Avantes NIR spectrometers provide the high sensitivity and spectral resolution required for these demanding applications. For instance, using a dual-channel Avantes system, researchers have collected NIR spectral data by pairing the AvaSpec-ULS2048L-EVO with the high-sensitivity AvaSpec-NIR256/512-2.5-HSC-EVO. This configuration, operating through the biologic or therapeutic optical window, allows detailed characterization of human subchondral bone properties for improved osteoarthritis assessment.

Non-invasive Diabetes Diagnosis: Non-invasive diabetes monitoring is emerging as a promising alternative to traditional blood sampling. Optical techniques, such as NIR spectroscopy, can probe glucose-related biochemical signatures through the skin or other tissues without test strips, enabling pain free and more accessible monitoring.

Avantes spectrometers are widely used to explore NIR absorption and Raman-based methods for glucose and glycated protein detection. For example, the AvaSpec-ULS2048 has been applied in the development of ophthalmic glucose monitoring systems, offering the potential to reduce the burden of frequent blood testing.

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