1. A method of performing photoacoustic analysis of a sample of interest, the method comprising: illuminating the sample of interest with a pulse of analytic radiation, the pulse having a particular time dependence p(t), detecting acoustic signals resulting from the pulse of analytic radiation encountering the sample using a detector system, capturing a series of discrete values output from the detector system, the series of discrete values having a time dependence o.sub.s (t), computing a Fourier transform O.sub.S of o.sub.S (t), illuminating a reference sample with a pulse of analytic radiation, the pulse having the time dependence of p(t), detecting acoustic signals resulting from the pulse of analytic radiation encountering the reference sample using the detector system, capturing a series of discrete values output from the detector system, the series of discrete values having a time dependence o.sub.R (t), computing a Fourier transform O.sub.R of o.sub.R (t), computing an inverse Fourier transform of the ratio O.sub.S /O.sub.R to provide a series of values s(t.sub.i) for a series of times t.sub.i, the values s(t.sub.i) representing the impulse response s(t) of the sample of interest relative to the impulse response of the reference sample.