SIMULTANEOUS DECOMPOSITION OF SEVERAL SPECTRA INTO THE CONSTITUENT GAUSSIAN PEAKS

A computer program is proposed for the decomposition of spectra into t heir constituent Gaussian peaks. A new feature of this program is the possibility of operating on different spectra from two or more compone nts of variable concentration at the same time, by optimising the wave lengths of the maxima and the halfbandwidths of all the spectra while the height of each peak is optimized in each single spectrum. This dis tinct treatment is possible due to the fact that the Gaussian function s are linear with respect to the heights and non-linear with respect t o the remaining parameters. A linear and non-linear least-squares anal ysis, respectively, is therefore possible. Besides its intrinsic utili ty in handling spectral data of different origin this procedure proves more useful than the single spectrum decomposition both in increasing the reliability of the parameters and in improving the convergence pr operties of the procedure.