Chemical Spectroscopy with Lasers

Abstract

Spectroscopy is the study of the wavelength- or frequency-dependence of any optical process in which a substance gains or loses energy through interaction with radiation. In the last Chapter, we considered several strictly non-spectroscopic chemical techniques, mostly based on interactions with laser light at a fixed wavelength. The advantage of studying the wavelength-dependence is the much more detailed information which is made available. Since the exact spectral response is uniquely determined by the chemical composition of a sample, there are two distinct areas of application. Firstly, spectroscopy can be employed with pure substances for the purpose of obtaining more information on their molecular structure and other physicochemical properties; such are the research applications. Secondly, the characteristic nature of spectroscopic response can be utilised for the detection of particular chemical species in samples containing several different chemical components; these are the analytical applications. In both areas, lasers have made a very sizeable impact in recent years.

‘Why is the grass so cool, fresh, and green? The sky so deep, and blue?’ Get to your Chemistry. You dullard, you!

‘The Dunce’, Walter de la Mare