Presents a unified treatment of multichannel detection systems in the uv/visible range of the spectrum as they relate to multielement spectrochemical analysis. Bridges the gap between the physics and engineering aspects of multichannel detection and analytical chemistry. First section deals with the foundation optical principles of modern experimental spectroscopy. Second section treats the basic operation of detectors for optical spectroscopy, and the third discusses topics related to combining detectors with optical spectrometers to produce detection systems for multielement analysis.