Resolution and performance of 3D confocal raman imaging systems

Abstract

Confocal Raman microscopes are the instruments of choice for chemical characterization in a wide variety of applications including geosciences (Jenniskens et al., in Nature 458(7237): 485, 2009 [1]), (Rotundi et al., in Planet Sci 43(1–2):367, 2008, [2]), (Heim et al., Geobiology in 10(4):280, 2012 [3]), biology (Hild et al., in J Struct Biol 168(3):426, 2009 [4]), (Gierlinger and Schwanninger, in J Spectrosc 21(2):69, 2007 [5]), (Hermelink et al., in Analyst 134(6):1149, 2009 [6]), nano-carbon materials (Xu et al., in ACS nano 5(1):147, 2010 [7]), (You et al., in Appl Phys Lett 93(10):103111, 2008 [8]), (Yu et al., in J Phys Chem C 112(33):12602, 2008 [9]) and pharmaceutics (Matthäus et al., in Mol Pharm 5(2):287, 2008 [10]), (Chernenko et al., in ACS nano 3(11):3552, 2009 [11]) to name but a few. Many pertinent examples can be found within this book. This chapter intends to shed light on the possibilities of confocal Raman systems in general, while briefly reviewing their origins and describing considerations such as spectral and spatial resolution as well as throughput. 3D confocal Raman imaging as well as compensation for surface topography during a confocal Raman image scan will also be outlined.