Initially conceived to perform chemical and mineralogical testing for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, Olympus’ TERRA is a rugged, fully portable field instrument which harnesses advanced dual XRD/XRF technology and renders it for earthbound applications. Combining both Olympus and NASA innovation, TERRA brings to life a new way of performing X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence measurements.

Using a specifically developed direct excitation charge coupled device (CCD) “camera”, TERRA is able to collect X-ray photon data for both X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence simultaneously. This is the result of the integrated camera’s ability to detect both photon position and photon energy at the same time. With energy resolution of ~200 eV (5.9 keV), TERRA makes XRF analysis as simple as viewing the software spectrum display.

TERRA radically simplifies sample collection for your X-ray diffraction experiments. Typically, a sample must be finely ground and pressed into a pellet in order to ensure a sufficiently random orientation of the crystals.

TERRA’s patented sample vibration chamber eliminates this issue. Requiring a mere 15 mg sample, the vibration chamber’s convection process presents the instrument optics with multifarious orientations of the crystalline structure. This results in a superb X-ray diffraction pattern, virtually free of the problematic preferred-orientation effects encountered when using classic preparation methods.

Due to its unique powder-handling system, nonmechanical goniometers, and lack of complicated moving parts, TERRA is extremely well suited for those applications where field portability and/or ease of use is at issue.

X-ray Diffraction Data

Search/Match & XRD Quantitative Analysis Software Included

X-ray Fluorescence Data

Qualitative XRF Scan

XPowder Software

TERRA is shipped with the necessary software (XPowder) for processing the resulting X-ray diffraction data. This includes the AMCSD mineral database.

For quantitative analysis, XPowder comes complete with reference intensity ratio (RIR) quantitative analysis methods as well as full-pattern analysis tools.

Furthermore, TERRA provides XRD pattern data in a variety of file formats, making XRD pattern interpretation in third-party programs easily accessible.

Connectivity

TERRA operates off software embedded in the unit itself. The user accesses the operating system through a wireless connection (802.11b/g). This remote operation method allows for a wide degree of flexibility in controlling the instrument and subsequent data handling.