18 14, J. Hoff observed these dark lines again, but he couldn't explain them. He called it the J. Flawn Hoff Secret Line.

1820, D.Brewster was the first to explain that these dark lines were produced by the absorption of sunlight by the atmosphere around the sun.

1860, according to the fact that sodium (Na) emission line and Frau Hoff dark line are in the same position in the spectrum, G. Shikhov and R.Bunsen proved that the dark line D in the solar continuous spectrum is the result of absorption of the solar spectrum by Na atoms in the outer atmosphere of the sun. The relationship between absorption and emission is further clarified-gaseous atomic energy emits some characteristic spectral lines and can also absorb these spectral lines with the same wavelength. This is the first case of qualitative analysis by atomic absorption spectrometry in history.

For a long time, atomic absorption has been mainly confined to the study of astrophysics, and its application in analytical chemistry has failed to attract attention. The main reason is that no light source that can produce sharp line spectrum has been found.

19 16, Paschen first developed a hollow cathode lamp, which can be used as a light source for atomic absorption analysis.

Until the 1930s, due to the wide application of mercury, a mercury meter was designed for the determination of trace mercury in the atmosphere based on the principle of atomic absorption spectrometry, which was the earliest application of atomic absorption spectrometry in analysis.

1954 Melbourne Institute of Physics in Australia exhibited the world's first atomic absorption spectrophotometer at the exhibition. With the use of hollow cathode lamp, the commercial instruments of atomic absorption spectrophotometer have been developed.

1955, physicist A.Walsh of Australian Federal Institute of Science and Industry first proposed the possibility of using atomic absorption spectrometry as a general analytical method to analyze various elements, and discussed the relationship between atomic concentration and absorbance value and related issues in the experiment. Then the famous paper "Application of Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy in Analysis" was published in the Journal of Spectral Chemistry. Since then, scientists from some countries have made great progress in this field. With the development of science and technology, advanced sciences such as atomic energy, semiconductors, radio electronics and space navigation require higher and higher purity of materials, such as uranium, thorium, beryllium and zirconium. The impurity should be less than 10-7~ 10-8g, and the germanium and selenium in semiconductor materials should be less than 10- 10. The impurities in thermonuclear reaction structural materials should be less than 10- 12g, and the purity requirements of the above materials can not be achieved by traditional analytical methods, while atomic absorption analysis can better meet the requirements of ultra-pure analysis.

1959, the former Soviet scholar вп Bob designed the graphite furnace atomizer, and 1960 put forward the electrothermal atomization method (i.e. flameless atomic absorption method), which greatly improved the sensitivity of atomic absorption analysis.

1965, in Venice (J.B.Willis), nitrous oxide-acetylene flame was used in atomic absorption spectrometry, which increased the number of determinable elements to 70.

1967, Massmann improved the Lviv graphite furnace and designed an electric graphite furnace atomizer (i.e. high temperature graphite furnace).

In the late 1960s, indirect atomic absorption spectrophotometry was developed, which made it possible to determine elements and organic compounds that were difficult to be determined by direct method.

197 1 year, Varian produced the world's first longitudinally heated graphite furnace and developed Zeeman background correction technology for the first time.

198 1 year atomic absorption analyzer realizes automatic operation.

1984 the first continuous hydride generator came out.

1990, the world's most advanced Mark V 1 flame burner was introduced.

1995 online flame automatic sampler (SIPS8) was successfully developed and put into use.

1998 the first rapid analysis flame atomic absorption 220FS was born.

In 2002, the world's first atomic absorption spectrometer for simultaneous analysis of flame and graphite furnace was produced and put on the market.

Now, the atomic absorption spectrophotometer adopts the latest electronic technology, which makes the instrument display digital and the sampling automatic, and the computer data processing system makes the whole analysis automatic.

65438-0963 China introduced atomic absorption spectrophotometry. From 65438 to 0965, the electric light source laboratory of Fudan University and the Institute of Nonferrous Metals of the Ministry of Metallurgy successfully developed the hollow cathode light source respectively. WFD-Y 1 Single-beam flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer is produced by Beijing Scientific Instrument Factory, with the number 1970. At present, many domestic enterprises have produced various models and advanced atomic absorption spectrometers.

The application of atomic absorption spectrophotometry also has some limitations, that is, each element to be measured must have a light source that can emit spectral lines with specific wavelengths. In atomic absorption analysis, firstly, the elements to be measured must be in atomic state. Atomization is often realized by spraying the solution into the flame, which has physical and chemical interference, making the determination sensitivity of insoluble elements not ideal, so there are only more than 30 elements with ideal practical effect. Because the use of the instrument requires acetylene, hydrogen, argon and nitrous oxide, attention must be paid to safety in operation.