Spectroscopy-01-01-2007

Featured products from the spectroscopy marketplace.

January 2007. This review article summarizes biological applications that utilize surface plasmon resonance, localized surface plasmon resonance, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, or ICPMS, is one of the most sensitive atomic spectroscopy techniques now on the market. There is considerable demand for ICP-MS in a diverse range of water analysis applications, which is driven both by governmental regulations and industrial processing needs.

In the previous installment of this column, the author discussed clocks as the first scientific instrument. What do clocks have to do with spectroscopy? Actually, the world's most accurate clocks, atomic clocks, are based upon a spectroscopic transition of cesium or other elements, making spectroscopy a fundamental tool in our measurements of the natural universe.

January 2007. In recent columns, the careful work needed to characterize and optimize electron ionization (EI) sources was described. This month, Ken Busch focuses on the potential for mass discrimination in the ICP source.

January 2007. Because of concerns over increasing levels of anthropogenic pollutants in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, the Utah Division of Water Quality recently conducted a roundrobin study of selenium in ambient and spiked Great Salt Lake waters to determine the most practical analytical technique for its detection. Of the techniques applied, only hydride generation atomic absorption and octopole reaction system ICP-MS provided acceptable results.