Patent ID: 8564774

Claim:
A spectroscopic apparatus for investigating heterogeneity of a sample area, comprising: an image acquisition system operative to acquire images of a plurality of sub-areas in the sample area, wherein the image acquisition system is sensitive to a first range of wavelengths and having a first field of view, a sub-area selection interface operative to receive a selection designating one of the sub-areas for which an image has been obtained, a spectrometer having a second field of view smaller than the first field of view and being operative to acquire a spectrum of at least part of one of the sub-areas in its field of view, wherein the spectrometer is sensitive to a second range of wavelengths different from the first range of wavelengths, and a positioning mechanism responsive to the sub-area selection interface and operative to position the field of view of the spectrometer relative to the sample area based on a received selection.