MULTIDIMENSIONAL INTEGRATION OF ABSORBANCES - AN APPROACH TO ABSOLUTEANALYTE DETECTION

The problem of absolute analyte detection is considered in this paper. It is shown that integration in absorbance, not in intensity, is a pr e-requisite for absolute detection in atomic absorption spectrometry, A design for an atomic absorption spectrometer of the future is descri bed which measures absorbance resolved in three key areas:wavelength, space and time. Intensity must be measured with sufficient temporal, s patial and spectral resolution to guarantee the accuracy of the comput ed absorbance. Technically, such measurements can be made simultaneous ly with a continuum source, a high resolution echelle spectrometer and a two dimensional solid-state array detector. All computed absorbance s are fully background and stray light corrected. With such measuremen ts, and a proper optical configuration, absolute analyte detection can become a reality and the possibility of absolute analysis becomes mor e obtainable. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r eserved.