How Many Lamps Does an AAS Laboratory Need? Just a Single One – With the contrAA®!

For half a century, this problem has been familiar to every AAS user: For each element, an individual hollow-cathode lamp is needed. For each element to be analyzed, the lamp must first be replaced before the sample is analyzed again. Consequently, multi-element analyses require a great amount of work and time, which is no longer appropriate today. Flexibility, too, is significantly restricted, since for each new element a new lamp must be procured, making it impossible to respond spontaneously to new requirements.

The High-Resolution Continuum Source (HR-CS) AAS technology used in the contrAA® range from Analytik Jena eliminates this disadvantage as well as other drawbacks of conventional AAS: A xenon lamp generates a continuous emission spectrum of consistently high intensity across the entire relevant wavelength range. Thus it is possible to analyze all elements of a sample directly, using a fast sequential procedure with no lamp replacement – AAS is becoming a multi-element technique! But that isn't all: A great number of alternative wavelengths is also available for all elements. These can be used to extend the measuring range towards higher concentrations, thus helping to avoid time-consuming dilutions.

In conjunction with a high-resolution double monochromator and a CCD line detector, it is possible to represent the absorption spectrum of each sample. Users "see what they are measuring" and are thus able to detect and correct any interferences promptly and easily – in most cases even by a fully automated process!