A spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument, comprising: a light source which generates a multi-wavelength light beam comprised of light of a plurality of wavelengths; a region of the spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument for the placement of a sample from which a circular dichroism measurement is to be obtained by exposure of the sample to the multi-wavelength light beam; a compensator optically coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam, the compensator introducing a phase difference between two orthogonal polarization components of the multi-wavelength light beam, the compensator being rotatable to allow rotation between the compensator and an optical axis of the multi-wavelength light beam; an optical element coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam, the optical element selecting a linearly polarized component of the multi-wavelength light beam; a spectrometer-detector (210, 606), the spectrometer-detector (210, 606) comprised of both a dispersive/diffractive element (302, 624) and a multi-element array detector (304, 626), the spectrometer-detector (210, 606) coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam to simultaneously provide intensity data for multiple wavelengths of light, the intensity data utilized to provide a circular dichroism measurement of the sample, the spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument being capable of providing the circular dichroism measurement simultaneously for multiple wavelengths; and an optical path being configured to allow the multi-wavelength light beam to pass through the compensator and the optical element after exposure of the sample to the multi-wavelength light beam; wherein the spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument is adapted to extract dc and 2ω components from the detected intensity data using Fourier analysis, and further to extract circular dichroism spectra from the dc and 2ω components, wherein ω is an angular frequency of the compensator rotation, said adaption comprising a computer implementing a computer program configured to analyze the intensity data so that circular dichroism measurements are obtained simultaneously for multiple wavelengths, wherein the compensator provides a circular polarization component to the multi-wavelength light beam. a light source which generates a multi-wavelength light beam comprised of light of a plurality of wavelengths; a region of the spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument for the placement of a sample from which a circular dichroism measurement is to be obtained by exposure of the sample to the multi-wavelength light beam; a compensator optically coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam, the compensator introducing a phase difference between two orthogonal polarization components of the multi-wavelength light beam, the compensator being rotatable to allow rotation between the compensator and an optical axis of the multi-wavelength light beam; an optical element coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam, the optical element selecting a linearly polarized component of the multi-wavelength light beam; a spectrometer-detector (210, 606), the spectrometer-detector (210, 606) comprised of both a dispersive/diffractive element (302, 624) and a multi-element array detector (304, 626), the spectrometer-detector (210, 606) coupled to the multi-wavelength light beam to simultaneously provide intensity data for multiple wavelengths of light, the intensity data utilized to provide a circular dichroism measurement of the sample, the spectroscopic circular dichroism instrument being capable of providing the circular dichroism measurement simultaneously for multiple wavelengths; and an optical path being configured to allow the multi-wavelength light beam to pass through the compensator and the optical element after exposure of the sample to the multi-wavelength light beam;