Spectroscopic instrumentation in the 21st Century: Excitement at the horizon: Plenary lecture

Recent developments in technology have suggested a promising future for plasma spectroscopy. New optical technologies, such as volume phase technology and unconventional optical systems, when coupled with new generations of optical detectors promise to provide powerful tools for plasma diagnostics or spectrochemical analysis. Next generation charge injection devices will provide both complete random access of individual detector sites and 'collective readout,' a new readout mode. Collective readout will promise faster readout and improved signal to noise ratios. A new generation of pro-amp per pixel array detectors with proper addressing architecture will allow random pixel readout and extreme resistance to blooming. These technological advances will yield new capabilities for not only current and future plasma sources, but also vintage sources such as the microwave-induced plasma, the direct current plasma, direct current arc and the direct current spark. Developments in software data processing techniques including neural networks and other chemometric techniques will allow present and future spectroscopists to extract useful diagnostic and chemical information from the almost overwhelming abundance of analytical data generated by the present and future generations of array detectors.