A Computer Control and Acquisition System for Atomic Absorption Data

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Abstract
A system is presented that controls and acquires data from a Perkin-Elmer 603 or similar atomic absorption spectrophotometer operating in the flame mode and equipped with a 200 place auto-sampler. The hardware consists of a PDP11 computer with minimum peripheral equipment and a simple instrument interface. The software is primarily a single large FORTRAN program in an RT-11, V3B operating system environment. The use of overlays reduces memory requirements to about 24 kilowords. The software provides for permanent storage of verified analytical data on a primary device and a secondary, backup device, in addition to printed reports. Data handling techniques allow correction for baseline and sensitivity drift, detection limit estimation, calculation of spike recoveries, and the use of standard additions analysis methods. Emphasis has been placed on quality control procedures, easily understood operator dialogue, and data security.

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