We support all of our gas cells and other products. One should be aware that gas cells exposed to very active gases in the presence of moisture (water vapor) can experience reduction in IR energy throughput over time. There can be deposits and/or corrosion on the mirrors and the side walls of the gas cell. Any thing that reduces the reflection efficiency of the mirrors will reduce energy throughput. 

Mirror Relection Efficiency Number of Reflections Throughput 99% 40 67% 98% 40 45% 97% 40 30% 96% 40 20% 95% 40 13% 94% 40 8% 93% 40 5%

As one can see, particles or corrosion on the mirror surface will reduce mirror reflection efficiency and therefore reduce the total IR energy coming out of the gas cell. It should be understood there are other sources of reduced gas cell/FTIR spectrometer performance. The windows of the gas cell can get fogged thereby reducing energy throughput. Transfer optics alignment can effect energy throughput. FTIR spectrometer performance of course can and will play an important role in performance. 

We will help you determine the causes and solutions to reduced total FTIR spectrometer performance. 

We service all our gas cells. We warranty the cells for lifetime against operational defects in quality or craftsmanship. Optical coatings, o-rings, and windows and the suitability for the application are not expressly warranted.  Moisture in the presence of a corrosive gas can produce particles that can fall out on the mirrors, deposition coatings and thin films on the mirrors, corrosion of the mirror surface, or pitting of the mirror and side walls. 

We refurbish our gas cells doing the following:

• new or resurfaced mirrors
• electro-polishing the wetted surfaces of the cell
• new o-rings
• new windows
• new hardware where required
• alignment of the gas cell optics
• vacuum testing and certification of the cell

The cost of this refurbishment usually is in the order of $1,500 for a standard gas cell. The cost of special o-rings and special windows would be additional.  The result of the refurbishment is a near new gas cell. We will provide a quotation for gas cell refurbishment on a case by case situation.

NICOLET GAS CELLS

We have re-furbished old Nicolet 10 meter gas cells. Nicolet gas cells have a diamond turned gold coated aluminum mirrors built right into the end plate flanges. We can re-coat the gold mirrors as long as the mirrors can be hand polished and then re-coated. We cannot re-coat these mirrors successfully If the pitting or corrosion is deep or produces uneven surfaces. In most cases, we have been very successful in refurbishing these Nicolet cells. We can replace the windows, o-rings, and re-nickel coat wetted surfaces as well. We have seen Nicolet gas cells with holes burnt right through nickel side walls and they require re-coating with nickel.