Random access charge transfer devices for multi-element atomic absorption spectrometry and temporal shifting

A simultaneous multi-element atomic absorption spectrometry system, comprising:

• a light source;
• a furnace for creating vapors of a sample contained within said furnace, said light source being arranged to pass a light beam through said furnace so that wavelengths of said light beam corresponding to spectral lines of multiple elements contained in said vapors are absorbed by said vapors;
• a spectrometer arranged to receive said light beam after said light beam has passed through said furnace, and to disperse said light beam into a spectrum;
• a random access charge transfer device arranged to receive said light beam after said light beam has passed through said spectrometer, to integrate and store charge corresponding to the intensity of said light beam, and to randomly access for readout subarrays of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to spectral lines of said multiple elements;
• and
• an optical apparatus configured to receive said light beam and to shift said light beam between a first and a second position, said light beam forming a first image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said first position of said light beam and a second image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to skid second position of said light beam, said second image being displaced with respect to said first image;
• and
• a controller configured, while said light beam is in said first position, to cause charge to be integrated and stored within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said first image and simultaneously to cause stored charge representing at least a portion of said second image to be read from said random access charge transfer device, and, while said light beam is in said second position, to cause charge to be integrated and stored within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said second image and simultaneously to cause stored charge representing at least a portion of said first image to be read from said random access charge transfer device;
• wherein:
• said spectrometer disperses said light beam into a spectrum comprising a plurality of orders separated by spaces;
• said first and second images each comprise a plurality of orders of said spectrum;
• and
• said second image is displaced with respect to said first image such that the orders of said second image are interspaced between the orders of said first image.

A method of operating a multi-element atomic absorption spectrometry system, comprising the steps of:

• producing a light beam from a light source;
• passing said light beam through a furnace that creates vapors of a sample contained within said furnace so that wavelengths of said light beam corresponding to spectral lines of multiple elements contained in said vapors are absorbed by said vapors;
• passing said light beam through a spectrometer, after said light beam has passed through said furnace, that disperses said light beam into a spectrum;
• projecting said light beam dispersed into said spectrum onto a random access charge transfer device;
• shifting said light beam between a first and a second position, said light beam forming a first image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said first position of said light beam and a second image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said second position of said light beam, said second image being displaced with respect to said first image;
• while said light beam is in said first position, integrating and store charge within a subarray of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to a portion of said first image that is a spectral line of one of said multiple elements;
• while said light beam is in said second position, integrating and storing charge within another subarray of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to a portion of said second image that is also said spectral line of said one of said multiple elements;
• and
• randomly accessing for readout said subarrays of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said spectral line of said one of said multiple elements.

A method of operating a multi-element atomic absorption spectrometry system, comprising the steps of:

• producing a light beam from a light source;
• passing said light beam through a furnace that creates vapors of a sample contained within said furnace so that wavelengths of said light beam corresponding to spectral lines of multiple elements contained in said vapors are absorbed by said vapors;
• passing said light beam through a spectrometer, after said light beam has passed through said furnace, that disperses said light beam into a spectrum;
• projecting said light beam dispersed into said spectrum onto a random access charge transfer device;
• shifting said light beam between a first and a second position, said light beam forming a first image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said first position of said light beam and a second image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said second position of said light beam, said second image being displaced with respect to said first image;
• while said light beam is in said first position, integrating and store charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said first image while simultaneously randomly accessing for readout subarrays of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to spectral lines of said multiple elements including at least a portion of said second image;
• while said light beam is in said second position, integrating and storing charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said second image while simultaneously randomly accessing for readout subarrays of said random access charge transfer device corresponding to spectral lines of said multiple elements including at least a portion of said first image;
• wherein:
• said step of passing said light beam through said spectrometer comprises dispersing said light beam into a spectrum comprising a plurality of orders separated by spaces;
• said first and second images each comprise a plurality of orders of said spectrum;
• and
• said second image is displaced with respect to said first image such that the orders of said second image are interspaced between the orders of said first image.

A system for analyzing an image, comprising:

• an optical apparatus configured to receive a light beam and to shift said light beam between a first and a second position;
• a random access charge transfer device arranged to receive said light beam from said optical apparatus, said light beam forming a first image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said first position of said light beam and a second image on said random access charge transfer device corresponding to said second position of said light beam, said second image being displaced with respect to said first image;
• and
• a controller configured, while said light beam is in said first position, to cause charge to be integrated and stored within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said first image and simultaneously to cause stored charge representing at least said portion of said second image to be read from said random access charge transfer device, and, while said light beam is in said second position, to cause charge to be integrated and stored within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said second image and simultaneously to cause stored charge representing at least said portion of said first image to be read from said random access charge transfer device.

A method of analyzing an image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a light beam;
• projecting said light beam onto an optical apparatus that causes said light beam to be projected in a first position onto a random access charge transfer device to form a first image, while integrating and storing charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said first image;
• and
• continuing to project said light beam onto said optical apparatus while said optical apparatus shifts said light beam to project said light beam in a second position onto said random access charge transfer device to form a second image, while integrating and storing charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least a portion of said second image;
• said step of integrating and storing charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least said portion of said first image being performed while stored charge representing at least said portion of said second image is simultaneously read from said random access charge transfer device;
• said step of integrating and storing charge within said random access charge transfer device representing at least said portion of said second image being performed while stored charge representing at least said portion of said first image is simultaneously read from said random access charge transfer device.