Patent ID: 9606050
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G01J,G01N

Claim:
1. A method of compensating for amplitude drift in a spectrometer generating optical spectral data from an unknown sample in a sample holder, the method comprising: performing in the spectrometer a standardisation process including, performing the standardisation process periodically throughout a lifetime of the spectrometer; acquiring, in the spectrometer, a single beam reference spectrum for a zero material associated with at least one performance of the standardization process; acquiring a single beam spectrum for the zero material at least once in a time interval between performances of the standardisation process; and between performances of the standardization process, modifying, in the arithmetic unit, the mathematical transform with a function describing a change in optical path length through the sample holder, such that the factor of the mathematical transform is modified to have a value that is dependent on both the first factor value and the function describing the change in optical path length, the function describing the change in optical path length being dependent on the acquired single beam reference spectrum for the zero material and the spectrum for the zero material acquired at least once in the time interval between performances of the standardisation process;