Patent ID: 6043884
Filing Date: 2000-03-28
Classification: G01J,G01N

Abstract:
A method of performing photoacoustic analysis of a sample of interest, the method comprising:illuminating the sample of interest with a pulse of analytic radiation, the pulse having a particular time dependence p(t),detecting acoustic signals resulting from the pulse of analytic radiation encountering the sample using a detector system,capturing a series of discrete values output from the detector system, the series of discrete values having a time dependence o.sub.s (t),computing a Fourier transform O.sub.S of o.sub.S (t),illuminating a reference sample with a pulse of analytic radiation, the pulse having the time dependence of p(t),detecting acoustic signals resulting from the pulse of analytic radiation encountering the reference sample using the detector system,capturing a series of discrete values output from the detector system, the series of discrete values having a time dependence o.sub.R (t),computing a Fourier transform O.sub.R of o.sub.R (t),computing an inverse Fourier transform of the ratio O.sub.S /O.sub.R to provide a series of values s(t.sub.i) for a series of times t.sub.i, the values s(t.sub.i) representing the impulse response s(t) of the sample of interest relative to the impulse response of the reference sample.