USE OF A RAPID-SCANNING STIGMATIC RAMAN IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH IN THE INDUSTRIAL-ENVIRONMENT

Raman spectroscopy is steadily growing in importance in the industrial analytical laboratory. The nature of the equipment, its ease of use a nd its cost are making the method more acceptable to non-experts. This paper illustrates the capabilities of a recent commercialized Raman s ystem which fulfils the criteria of ease of use, speed and low cost. T he system is designed for Raman microscopy and uses a single spectrogr aph and CCD detector. The combination provides confocal microscopy, hi gh throughput and optimum sensitivity, to the extent that it only requ ires the use of a low-powered laser to provide high-quality spectral d ata. The additional feature of direct Raman imaging is seen as being b eneficial in the industrial environment in that it provides spatial in formation over large surface areas quickly and without the need for ex cessive amounts of data processing. The performance of the instrument is illustrated with applications taken from the industrial environment .