Patent ID: 7511255

Claim:
A spectrophotometer comprising: a light source; an optical system for spectrally dispersing measurement light from said light source; a light-receiving unit which includes a photodiode array having a plurality of light-receiving elements arranged in corresponding relation to respective spectral light components dispersed by said optical system and each adapted to receive and photoelectrically convert a corresponding one of said spectral light components, a sampling chamber disposed in a light path of the measurement light, and a signal readout section for reading out an amount of electric charge accumulated in each of said light-receiving elements of said photodiode array, said light-receiving unit being designed to controllably set an electric-charge accumulation time for each of said light-receiving elements of said photodiode array; and a control section for controlling said light-receiving unit to set respective electric-charge accumulation times for said light-receiving elements of said photodiode array, said control section being operable to relatively reduce an electric-charge accumulation time for one of said light-receiving elements which corresponds to a specific wavelength region in an emission spectrum of said light source, said specific wavelength region exhibiting a spectral intensity greater than a predetermined threshold, wherein said one of said light-receiving elements which corresponds to said specific wavelength region is determined based on a previous emission of light.