What Is a Detector?
As the separated dye bands leave the column, they pass immediately into the detector. The detector contains a flow cell that sees [detects] each separated compound band against a background of mobile phase [see Figure H]. [In reality, solutions of many compounds at typical HPLC analytical concentrations are colorless.] An appropriate detector has the ability to sense the presence of a compound and send its corresponding electrical signal to a computer data station. A choice is made among many different types of detectors, depending upon the characteristics and concentrations of the compounds that need to be separated and analyzed, as discussed earlier.