Raman Spectroscopy - Principle
Raman spectroscopy is a nondestructive method to characterize the molecular composition and structure of a material. This technique is complementary to infrared spectroscopy which allows to study vibrational modes of a material.
It is based on Raman scattering which involves the inelastic scattering of a photon, i.e. the physical process by which a medium may diffuse the light slightly modifying its frequency. This frequency shift corresponds to an energy exchange between the beam and the environment. The extent of this shift can be traced back to certain properties of the medium. This technique is widely used in industry and research since the advent of the laser.
Raman spectroscopy - Applications
- Chemistry (identification of molecules, study of chemical bonding, e.g., when a substrate is added to an enzyme)
- Gas analyzis have many practical applications (e.g. in medicine for real-time monitoring of anaesthetic and respiratory gas mixtures during surgery)
- Solid state physics (material characterization, temperature, crystallographic orientation)
- Counterfeit drugs detection
- Non-invasive monitoring of biological tissue
- Chemical composition of historical documents
- Security (detection of explosives, ...)
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