Innovative spectroscopes collect complex information in real time – any time and everywhere. This paves the way to completely new applications. By working together with WILD, customers can be sure their ideas will result in a precise, robust product that is ready for serial production, regardless of its intended use.

What used to be reserved for laboratories can now fit in any jacket pocket: miniaturised spectroscopic systems are opening up completely new fields of application for quick, precise and cost-efficient analyses in everyday scenarios. Already today, consumers can use their smartphone to measure the humidity of their skin, winegrowers can check the maturity of their grapes directly in the vineyard, and compact breath analysis devices will soon be able to detect signs of disease like diabetes. This is made possible by new sensor principles, intelligent software and miniaturised optical components that are rapidly expanding the limits of what is technically feasible.

For a quick time to market for these powerful spectroscopic systems, however, you also need a development and manufacturing partner who can contribute in-depth knowledge in the optics, mechanics and electronics. Thanks to its close cooperation with research centre Silicon Austria Labs (SAL), the WILD Group can offer even more: together, the two can identify cutting-edge technologies early, develop customised solutions and get products ready for the market in the shortest time possible.

INDUSTRY DIVERSITY MEETS TECHNOLOGICAL DEPTH
”Our core expertise lies in optics, which is in turn at the heart of every spectroscopy application – be it UV-VIS, emission, fluorescence, IR or NIR spectroscopy. What distinguishes these analysis methods is their wavelength. Therefore, each system requires precisely adjusted light sources, optical filters and detectors. Thanks to our longstanding experience, we have become experts in the composition and selection of these factors and components – always keeping an eye on an efficient transition to serial production and device design“, explains Martina Trinkel from Business Development at the WILD Group. Especially when requirements for tightness, resistance to temperature, robustness and precision are very strict, WILD plays to its strength of enormous experience, as numerous reference examples demonstrate.

FROM GOODS RECEIPT TO RECYCLING
For instance, the stable optomechanical design of an NIR spectrograph co-developed and manufactured by WILD ensures that the device can be used directly in the process line at sorting facilities. ”Our optical components, such as diffraction grating, imaging optics for the camera and custom-made mechanical components can easily withstand dust, vibrations and temperature variations of up to 50 degrees,“ stresses Stefan Werkl, Head of Business Unit Optical Technologies at WILD GmbH.

WILD can also contribute its expertise when it comes to the development and manufacturing of mobile VIS and NIR measuring instruments. For a customer specialising in mobile spectroscopy systems for industrial and agricultural applications, WILD integrated its innovative sensor system into a portable handheld system.

In the metals industry, optical emission spectrometers from a longstanding WILD customer and market leader in industrial measurement technology and laboratory equipment are used to reliably analyse steels and alloys such as aluminium, nickel or copper. From raw material through goods receipt to recycling: these spark spectrometers guarantee quality in each phase, even in safety-critical applications or 3D-printed metal components. In addition, they are essential for cost control, risk minimisation and productivity.

PARTNERSHIP WITH SAL IS AN ENGINE OF INNOVATION
Thomas Ladstätter, Senior Business Development Manager for sensor systems at Silicon Austria Labs, sees a lot of potential in the future, especially in miniaturisation. ”The combination of integrated optical microsystems and AI-enabled data evaluation opens completely new possibilities. Therefore, a research focus at SAL is on non-linear spectroscopic methods that demonstrate a significantly higher sensitivity to molecular details, while allowing for the measurement of ultrafast processes with high temporal resolution. Medical technology applications, e.g. in cancer diagnosis or label-free pathology, and even in food analysis or environmental monitoring, can massively benefit from this“, Ladstätter insists.

Moreover, he believes miniaturisation has a positive impact on costs. ”Especially in personalised medicine, applications currently reserved to laboratories will become feasible in the future. Compact spectral engines integrated into portable devices can also yield benefits in the detection of hazardous chemical or biological substances. This is an important topic in view of the current challenges in European security policy“, adds Ladstätter.