Method and apparatus for control of a plasma for spectrometry
AssigneeThermo Electron Manufacturing Limited
InventorStephen Hartwell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of and apparatus for controlling the temperature of an inductively coupled or microwave induced plasma for optical emission spectrometry or mass spectrometry in which the intensities of two spectral lines of radiation emitted by the plasma are measured, and the power provided to sustain the plasma is adjusted so that the ratio of the intensities remains substantially constant.
Claims26
A method of controlling the temperature of a plasma for spectrometry, comprising:
- measuring the intensities of two spectral lines of radiation emitted by the plasma;
- and
- adjusting the power provided to sustain the plasma so that a ratio of the intensities remains substantially constant.
A spectrometer comprising a plasma generator, a wavelength selector, and a controller connected to the plasma generator and configured to control the power provided to sustain a plasma, the control being in response to a signal derived by the wavelength selector from the ratio of the intensities of two spectral lines of radiation emitted by the plasma when the spectrometer is in use.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.