A simple highly sensitive recording microspectrophotometer

: A design of the recording microspectrophotometer is described. The instrument possesses an absolutely flat base line and quantum-noise limited detection threshold. Two principal elements of the design are the "jumping" stage, and the logarithmic amplifier with the phase-sensitive detector which converts the photomultiplier output into the optical density signal. The performance of the instrument is illustrated by the recordings of visual pigment spectra in single photoreceptors.