264 
Cleaning Information
How to clean instruments with an optical glass plate
Never try to open the instrument and clean the optical block by 
yourself, because it is easy to scratch optical components, and cause 
them to be misaligned.
E.13 How to clean instruments with an optical 
glass plate
Some instruments, for example, the optical heads from Agilent 
Technologies have an optical glass plate to protect the sensor. Clean 
this glass plate in the same way as optical lenses (see “How to clean 
lenses” on page 262).
E.14 How to clean instruments with a physical 
contact interface
Remove any connector interfaces from the optical output of the 
instrument before you start the cleaning procedure.
Cleaning interfaces is difficult as the core diameter of a single-
mode fiber is only about 9
µm. This generally means you cannot 
see streaks or scratches on the surface. To be certain of the degree 
of pollution on the surface of your interface and to check whether it 
has been removed after cleaning, you need a microscope.
WARNING Never look into an optical output, because this can seriously damage 
your eyesight. 
To assess the projection of the emitted light beam you can use an 
infrared sensor card. Hold the card approximately 5 cm from the 
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