Patent ID: 7158231

Claim:
A spectroscopic rotating compensator material system investigation system comprising a source of a polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation, a polarizer, a stage for supporting a material system, an analyzer, a dispersive optics and at least one detector system which contains a multiplicity of detector elements, said spectroscopic rotating compensator material system investigation system further comprising at least one pseudo-achromatic compensator(s) positioned at a location selected from the group consisting of: before said stage for supporting a material system; after said stage for supporting a material system; and both before and after said stage for supporting a material system; there being in the path of a polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation, provided by said source thereof, at least four apertures between said source of polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation and said stage for supporting a material system, and at least three apertures between said stage for supporting a material system and said at least one detector system; such that when said spectroscopic rotating compensator material system investigation system is used to investigate a material system present on said stage for supporting a material system, said analyzer and polarizer are maintained essentially fixed in position and at least one of said at least one compensator(s) is caused to continuously rotate while a polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation produced by said source of a polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation is caused to pass through said polarizer and said at least one compensator(s) and said at least four apertures between said source of polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation and said stage for supporting a material system, said polychromatic beam of electromagnetic radiation being also caused to interact with a material system on said stage for supporting a material system, pass through said analyzer and said at least three apertures between said stage for supporting a material system, and interact with said dispersive optics such that a multiplicity of essentially single wavelengths are caused to simultaneously enter a corresponding multiplicity of detector elements in said at least one detector system.