Patent ID: 7564547

Claim:
A spectroscopic system comprising: a dispersive element positioned to receive incoming light from a material sample comprising a plurality of wavelengths and to transmit wavelength-dispersed light; a detector configured to receive at least a portion of the wavelength-dispersed light, wherein the at least a portion of the dispersed light comprises divergent dispersed light; and a moveable detector mount configured to selectively position the detector at a plurality of different distances along a same angular position from the dispersive element to receive desired portions of the divergent dispersed light and to obtain a plurality of different resolutions of the material sample, wherein the detector is mounted to the moveable detector mount, wherein the moveable detector mount is linearly moveable along an optical path of light between the dispersive element and the detector; and wherein the plurality of wavelengths includes a first excitation wavelength and a second excitation wavelength, and wherein the system is configured to move the detector mount to a first position associated with the first excitation wavelength and to obtain spectroscopic data indicative of one or more physical characteristics of a first sample region to a first depth, and wherein the system is configured to move the detector mount to a second position associated with the second excitation wavelength and to obtain spectroscopic data indicative of the one or more physical characteristics of the first sample region to a second different depth.