Advances in Spectroscopy

Analytical atomic spectroscopy utilises the emission, absorption or fluorescence of light at discrete wavelength by atoms in a vaporised sample for the determination of the elemental composition of the sample. Spectroscopy is thus an analytical technique concerned with the measure-ment of the interaction of radiant energy with matter. A display of such data is called a spectrum, that is a plot of the intensity of the emitted or absorbed radiant energy (or some function of the intensity) versus the energy of that light. Spectra due to the emission of radiant energy are produced as energy is emitted from matter, after some form of excitation, then collimated by passage through a slit, then separated into components of different energy by transmission through a prism or by reflection from a ruled grating and finally detected. Spectra due to the absorption of radiant energy are produced when radiant energy from a stable source collimated and separated into its components in a monochromator passes through the sample whose absorption spectrum is to be measured and is detected.