Patent ID: 8208145

Claim:
Apparatus for analysing a liquid sample, the apparatus comprising a beam generator for generating a beam of electromagnetic radiation, a detector for detecting electromagnetic radiation from said generator after the electromagnetic radiation has interacted with the sample, sample retaining elements for releasably retaining the sample in the path of the beam, wherein the sample retaining elements comprise a surface on which the sample is, in use supported, the surface being one of a pair of such surfaces of the sample-retaining elements between which, in use, a sample being analysed is sandwiched, the sample being situated in a gap between two surfaces, wherein at least one of said surfaces is transparent to said electromagnetic radiation, the beam, in use, travelling through that surface and across the gap, wherein at least one of those surfaces is movable so that the surfaces have an open condition in which the sample is applied to or removed from at least one of the two surfaces and in a closed condition in which the sample is sandwiched between the surfaces, and wherein the surfaces are hydrophobic.