The Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) is a measure used in various fields to describe the width of a curve or a peak at half of its maximum amplitude or intensity.
It’s commonly used in scientific and technical contexts, especially in signal processing, spectroscopy, chromatography, and other fields dealing with the analysis of data, spectra, or distributions.
For example, in a graph representing a peak (such as a spectral line or a chromatographic peak), the FWHM is the width of that peak at the level where it reaches half of its maximum height.
Mathematically, the FWHM can be determined by finding the difference between the two points on the curve where the amplitude is half of the maximum value. The width between these points, often measured in units such as frequency, wavelength, or distance, represents the FWHM.
The FWHM is crucial in characterizing the resolution, sharpness, or width of peaks in various analytical techniques. For instance, in spectroscopy, a narrower FWHM indicates better resolution, while in chromatography, it can denote the separation efficiency between different compounds.
