Using The Background Corrector - PerkinElmer aanalyst 200 User Manual

AAnalyst 200 User's Guide

Using the Background Corrector

If you have a deuterium background corrector in your AAnalyst 200, you have the choice of performing
atomic absorption measurements with or without background correction.
It is an internally mounted assembly that provides simultaneous correction for molecular absorption and
light-scattering. The spectrometer uses a deuterium arc lamp to correct for background absorbance caused
by non-atomic species in the atom cloud.
When the deuterium arc background corrector is used, two alternating sets of measurements are made:
one with the primary source and a second with background corrector source. The primary source
measures a combination of background and atomic absorption. The continuum source measures only the
background. The difference between the two measurements yields the atomic absorption.
A deuterium arc source is used for maximum wavelength coverage and intensity. The AAnalyst 200 can
accurately handle combined atomic plus background absorption signals as large as three absorbance units.
The background corrector is internally installed, with its power supplied from the instrument. Power to
the source is automatically and continuously adjusted to be in the optimum range for operation. The
deuterium arc lamp is easily accessible, allowing convenient replacement of the lamp by the users.
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