Patent ID: 7916834

Claim:
An analyzer for analyzing composition of a sample, comprising: a hand-held, self-contained, test instrument that includes: a source for producing a beam of penetrating radiation for illuminating a spot on at least a portion of the sample, thereby causing the sample to emit fluoresced radiation characteristic of elements in the sample; a collimator for the beam having a distal exit aperture characterized by a transverse dimension, the distal exit disposed at a distance from the sample no greater than about twice the transverse dimension; a detector positioned to receive the fluoresced radiation for producing an output signal representative of spectral data; a processor coupled to the detector and programmed to process the output signal from the detector; a battery powering the source and the processor; and a second collimator for the beam having a second distal exit aperture characterized by a second transverse dimension, the second distal exit being disposed, when the beam passes through the second collimator to illuminate the spot, at a distance from the sample no greater than about twice the second transverse dimension.