Patent ID: 8368893

Claim:
An optical apparatus comprising: a light source; an array detector for area imaging; and an optical cell assembly comprising a chamber having a generally elliptical longitudinal cross-section, the chamber being adapted to receive a sample of a material including an analyte, the optical cell assembly further comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet coupled to the chamber and arranged to provide a fluid dissolution medium stream passing through the chamber and over the sample subsequent to receiving the sample such that the sample dissolves into the dissolution medium to form a plume extending downstream from the sample; wherein the optical cell assembly is positioned such that the chamber is in at least one light path created between the light source and the array detector; and wherein the array detector comprises a two dimensional array of detector locations arranged progressively further downstream from the sample along the chamber to provide an output signal indicative of the light absorbance of the analyte within the chamber such that the output of the array detector is indicative of a series of concentration profiles of the analyte at locations within the plume adjacent to the detector locations.