Many applications today require the Fourier-transform (FT) spectrometer to perform close to its limitations, such as taking many quantitative measurements in the visible and in the near infrared wavelength regions. In such cases, the instrument should not be considered as a perfect "black box." Knowing where the limitations of performance arise and which components must be improved are crucial to obtaining repeatable and accurate results. One of the objectives of this book is to help the user identify the instrument's bottleneck.
