Advances and useful applications of Raman spectroscopy, imaging and remote sensing

Recent improvements in fitters, multi-element detectors and instrument design have transformed Raman spectroscopy from a difficult to use specialist technique in to a widely used multidimensional spectroscopic method Raman spectroscopy is none destructive and offers a spatial resolution of one micron or better. A Raman spectrum gives specific information regarding the chemical bonding of molecules and can therefore be used to identify different molecules in a system Through the use of xyz mapping techniques specific types of material can be imaged in living cells, drug formulations and polymer mixtures to give but a few examples. Raman technologies allow areas as large as 500 microns to be imaged directly using filters tuned specifically to look for a particular chemical species. The Raman technique uses visible or close to visible light which is ideal for coupling in to optical fibers, it is therefore very easy to build ruggedized spectrometers using fiber optic probes for remote sensing in extremely difficult and/or hazardous environments for example process monitoring and recently endoscopic diagnostic work in living subjects. This paper will describe the methodology used in direct Raman imaging, Raman mapping experiments and remote sensing with reference to specific examples of biological, pharmaceutical, mineral and crystal studies.