A double beam spectrophotometer measures the transmittance or reflectance of samples using two light beams - one passing through a reference sample and the other through the analyte sample. It corrects for factors like stray light and fluctuations in beam strength in real-time for more accurate measurements compared to single beam spectrophotometers. Double beam spectrophotometers are used across various fields like chemistry, biology, physics to quantify compounds and macromolecules in solutions, solids, and gases.