COMPARISON OF DATA REDUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR LINE-EXCITED OPTOACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF MIXTURES.

The use of discrete line laser excitation for the optoacoustic analysis of gas mixtures holds promise as a formidable analytical tool. However, this technique presents challenging demands on the data reduction process to increase the reliability of the analytical results. The problems unique to this method which make data reduction difficult are discussed. Use of simultaneous equations, multivariate least-squares, and a new iterative coefficient weighted least-squares approach are compared. Data indicating the relative performance of these methods are presented.