Simultaneous decomposition of several spectra into the constituent Gaussian peaks

A computer program is proposed for the decomposition of spectra into their constituent Gaussian peaks. A new feature of this program is the possibility of operating on different spectra from two or more components of variable concentration at the same time, by optimising the wavelengths of the maxima and the halfbandwidths of all the spectra while the height of each peak is optimized in each single spectrum. This distinct treatment is possible due to the fact that the Gaussian functions are linear with respect to the heights and non-linear with respect to the remaining parameters. A linear and non-linear least-squares analysis, respectively, is therefore possible. Besides its intrinsic utility in handling spectral data of different origin this procedure proves more useful than the single spectrum decomposition both in increasing the reliability of the parameters and in improving the convergence properties of the procedure.