Measurement of the practical resolving power of monochromators in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

Abstract

A method of measuring the practical resolving power of monochromators in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry is described. Instead of using a narrow line radiation source, this method makes use of a specific Cd line emitted by the plasma (Cd I 228.802 nm), for which the physical line width is known (0.0014 nm). A quadratic function is used for the convolution of the physical line width and the instrumental broadening. Results are presented for a large selection of readily available monochromators.