CCD responses increased by a couple of orders of magnitude

[Keated]

So, last week I was working with a raman microscope, specifically using it in a photoluminescence experiment, and for about 20 minutes I was suddenly getting responses a couple of orders of magnitude higher than I did before or after.

What's even stranger is that the guy on the desk across from me, using a similar machine for a different experiment, also had a sudden increase in response for a while (his actually went off the scale)

Any ideas what it could have been? Would something like a power surge increase the response measured, but keep the responses relative to one another? (the shape of the graph was the same in these cases) I figure that the fact it was still relative probably rules out something like cosmic rays, though some of my other results may have been suffering due to them (In most of the results on this machine I'd seen, cosmic rays just show up as a very sharp peak, but in some of my results I got a sharp peak followed by a slow decline a few times, so I'm also unsure of what caused that...)

Anyone got any experience with this kind of machine or response?

 

[eljose79]

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your experience with the raman microscope. It sounds like you and your colleague both experienced an unexpected increase in response during your experiments. This can definitely be a puzzling situation, but there are a few potential explanations that could help shed some light on what may have caused this.

Firstly, a power surge could potentially increase the response measured by the microscope. However, it would be unusual for both of your experiments to be affected at the same time and for the increase to be a couple of orders of magnitude higher. It's also worth noting that power surges can sometimes cause damage to sensitive equipment, so it's important to make sure the microscope is functioning properly before continuing with your experiments.

Another possibility is that there was some kind of interference or contamination in your samples. This could be due to something like dust or other particles on the sample or in the environment, which could have temporarily increased the response. It's also possible that there was a change in the experimental setup or conditions that affected the results, such as a change in temperature or humidity.

You mentioned the possibility of cosmic rays causing some of your other results to suffer. While cosmic rays can certainly have an impact on experiments, it's unlikely that they would cause such a sudden and significant increase in response. It's more likely that cosmic rays would cause a noticeable spike or disruption in the data, rather than a sustained increase.

Overall, without more information it's difficult to determine exactly what caused the increase in response in your experiments. However, some potential explanations to consider include power surges, interference or contamination, and changes in experimental conditions. It may also be helpful to consult with other scientists who have experience using this type of microscope to see if they have encountered similar issues.

I hope this helps and good luck with your future experiments!