Performance comparison between high and low resolution spectrophotometers used in a white light surface plasmon resonance sensor

To verify the conclusions of earlier research, the response of a planar substrate white light surface plasmon resonance sensor was simultaneously measured with high resolution (1024 channel) and low resolution (16 channel) spectrophotometers. The sensor's response to a series of sucrose solutions was calibrated using data from both systems. Multivariate analyses based on principle component regression and locally weighted parametric regression were performed on both high and low resolution data; the calibration errors from the low-resolution system were smaller than those from the best calibration that could be obtained from the high-resolution system. Other analysis techniques (a center of mass analysis and a linear technique based on the derivative of the baseline spectrum) allowed the 16 channel system to perform high resolution monitoring of small signal offset from a baseline; both techniques allowed resolution of shifts in the resonance location as small as 0.02 nm. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.