Patent ID: 7903253

Claim:
A method of obtaining a time-resolved spectrum of a sample undergoing a reaction, the method comprising: a. providing a microscope comprising: i. a light sampler for collecting light from a measurement area of a sample undergoing a reaction; ii. a multi-element detector having a plurality of photoelectric elements, for detecting the light collected by the light sampler, each photoelectric element corresponding to a minute measurement region in the measurement area with one-to-one correspondence; iii. a Fourier transform spectrophotometer having a moving mirror serving as an optical path difference generator in an interferometer, the Fourier transform spectrophotometer serving as a spectroscope for at least one of light incident on the measurement area and light coming from the measurement area, the moving mirror capable of moving through and stopping at a plurality of mirror stop positions, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , . . . , P n ; iv. a data sampler for concurrently sampling intensity data sent from each photoelectric element of the multi-element detector at a timing determined according to position information of the moving mirror, which is sent from the Fourier transform spectrophotometer; and v. a data processor for obtaining time-resolved spectrum data for each minute measurement region according to temporally changed interference light data obtained by the data sampler; b. generating an optical path difference using an interferometer; c. irradiating interference light generated in step (b) to a sample and collecting light from a measurement area of the sample; d. detecting the light collected by the light sampler using a multi-element detector having a plurality of photoelectric elements, each photoelectric element corresponding to a minute measurement region in the measurement area with one-to-one correspondence; e. initiating a reaction after the moving mirror is positioned at a stop position P 1 ; f. sending a trigger signal to a data sampler for initiating sampling of intensity data at a predetermined constant interval, t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t x , using a sampling timing generator, when the sampling timing generator receives a signal that a reaction has started; g. sampling, using the data sampler, intensity data sent from each photoelectric element, according to the predetermined constant interval, t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t x ; and h. moving the mirror to a subsequent stop position P 2 and repeating steps (b) through (g); i. repeating steps (b) through (g) for remaining stop positions P 3 , P 4 , . . . , P n ; j. obtaining a spectrum data at t 1 , using the data processor, according to the obtained intensity data at t 1 , at all of the stop positions P 1 to P n ; and k. obtaining the time resolved spectrum data for each minute measurement region by repeating step (j) for remaining t 2 , t 3 , . . . , t x .