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Current Work in the Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory
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Studies currently occurring in the Raman laboratory involve refining four recently developed prototype instruments as well as taking measurements on rock, soil, and pure mineral samples. The utility of the Raman spectroscopy is shown in the figure on the left. With Raman, these two minerals can be effectively discerned from one another based upon the small molecular differences that characterize them.
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Another concern in the development of these Raman instrument prototypes is their ability to characterize materials with distance from sample. Therefore, analyses are being taken of varying sample types at different distances from the instrument to determine what is the limit of spectral discernment. This is very important for characterizing the effective capabilities of future rover/lander instruments.
In the figure to the left, a dolomite sample was analyzed at varying distances (13, 38, and 66 m) and found to have unique spectral identification characteristics up to 66 m. This particular analysis was performed by the stand-off pulsed Raman prototype.
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Another concern of our work is not only identification of rock and mineral species, but the compositional characteristics that describe them. Using combined laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman stand-off measurements we can determine compositional information to within +/- 0.5% of electron microprobe analyses of the same sample.
Shown in the figure on the left are several carbonate sample spectra. Using the quantitative information about the cations in each sample from LIBS data, combined with the unique Raman signature of the anion groups, we can identify and characterize the mineralogy and composition of each sample. Thereby, easily distinguishing each sample despite structural and compositional similarities.
Efforts are currently underway to combine the stand-off pulsed Raman and LIBS techniques into a compact single instrument for stand-off in-situ sample analysis of planetary surfaces.
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RAMAN HOME | PUBLICATIONS | USES | CURRENT WORK | INSTRUMENTS |
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For more information on the Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory at HIGP contact Dr. Shiv Sharma.
Web page maintained by Josh Cahill.
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