Abstract: A two-wire communication system comprising a transmitting unit having constant current characteristics for controlling an output current thereof on the basis of a signal supplied from a sensor, a receiving unit for receiving a control signal to control the sensor, a load resistor and power supply connected in series with the transmitting unit via a two-wire transmission path, and a communication unit so connected in parallel to the load resistor as to convey the output current of the transmitting unit to the process side and control a current from the power supply transmitted onto the transmission path on the basis of information supplied from the process side.

Abstract: An absorption profile indicative of a relation in atomic absorption spectroscopy between the absorbance of a desired element and time has a constant half-width independent of the concentration of the desired element in a sample, and hence the half-width of absorption profile with respect to the desired element can be previously determined from data which is obtained by the measurement of a standard sample. In an atomic absorption spectrophotometer herein disclosed, the half-width of absorption profile is previously determined in the above-mentioned manner, and the true peak value of an absorption profile obtained by measuring a sample which contains the desired element at a high concentration, is calculated using the time width of this absorption profile at a predetermined absorbance and the previously-determined half-width.