Causes include dust on optical components (mirrors, lenses) or imperfections in the monochromator. Stray light is most problematic at the edges of the instrument's working range where source intensity and detector sensitivity are. The Cracking Patterns table lists Mass Spectrometry peaks for cracking patterns of simple inorganic and organic molecules. Q1: What is stray light and how does it affect my spectrophotometric measurements? Stray light, often referred to as "false" light, is any detected signal composed of wavelengths outside the intended measurement bandpass. If your spectrometer isn't calibrating or is showing unusually noisy or high absorbance values (often above 3 or blank), the issue may be due to insufficient light reaching the detector.
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