Special Issues-06-01-2019

Click the title above to open the Raman Technology for Today's Spectroscopists 2019 special issue in an interactive PDF format.

Five key qualitative factors–speed, sensitivity, resolution, modularity and upgradeability, and combinability–contribute to the quality of confocal Raman imaging microscopes. Using application examples, this article introduces modern Raman imaging and correlative imaging techniques, and presents state-of-the-art practice examples from polymer research, pharmaceutics, low-dimensional materials research, and life sciences.

A new application of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is described for quantifying low concentrations of pathogens with high reproducibility. In this novel assay, bacteria are captured and isolated using functionalized metal nanoparticles for rapid optical identification via SERS. Initial tests with a portable SERS system validated the ability to identify the presence of Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

In this study, macro- and microscopic Raman spectroscopy were used to identify different commercial microplastic fibers using measured spectra with database searches. Raman microscopy is demonstrated as a powerful technique for microplastic fiber characterization, especially for samples that contain mixtures of components, including multiple polymers, or additives.