THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIPLE INPUT SPECTROMETER FOR PROCESSMONITORING APPLICATIONS

RECENT YEARS HAVE SEEN SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN LIGHT DETECTION TECHNOLOGY AND COMPUTER PROCESSING POWER. THERE ARE TWO DIMENSIONAL ARRAY DETECTORS, E.G. CCD ARRAYS, THAT ARE ENTIRELY CAPABLE OF PERFORMING AS SCIENTIFIC DETECTORS. MODERN SMALL COMPUTERS ARE CAPABLE OF HANDLING THE VAST QUANTITIES OF DATA PRODUCED ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY BY THESE DETECTORS. THE MISSING BUILDING BLOCK IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECTROMETER THAT CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS IS AN OPTICAL SYSTEM CAPABLE OF TWO DIMENSIONAL IMAGING. CHROMEX HAS DEVELOPED A PROPRIETARY METHOD OF PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY ASPHERIC OPTICS. WE PROPOSE TO USE THIS TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCE A HIGH RESOLUTION STIGMATIC FLAT FOCAL FIELD SPECTROGRAPH THAT WHEN COUPLED WITH ARRAY DETECTION CAN BE THE BASIS FOR A MULTIPLE FIBER OPTIC INPUT SPECTROPHOTOMETER. THIS DEVICE WILL HAVE IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS IN SITUATIONS WHERE SPECTROCHEMICAL MEASUREMENTS CAN BE USED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY DETERMINE TARGET ANALYTE CONCENTRATIONS AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS. SUCH AN APPLICATION MIGHT BE COMBUSTION DIAGNOSTICS WHERE NUMEROUS LOCATIONS WITHIN A COMBUSTION CHAMBER COULD BE SIMULTANEOUSLY MONITORED.