Calibrating Multichannel Raman Spectrometers

Abstract Although multichannel Raman spectroscopy has a history of more than a decade I, it was only recently that the real potential of this technique became fully appreciated. The use of advanced optical multichannel detectors (OMDs) is now bringing about a substantial change in Raman spectroscopy. For example, the application of this technique to short-lived transient species has established a new frontier of Raman spectroscopy known as transient and time-resolved Raman spectroscopy 2. The technique has made it possible to measure the spectrum even from an extremely weak scatterer like a monolayer film deposited on a substrate 3, 41. A recent experiment on an intact mouse lens [5 demonstrated that only 1 mW laser power with 1 s exposure time is enough to obtain a good quality Raman spectrum of the lens protein, which is of clinical importance for the prevention of cataract formation. A number of stimulating reports are also notable in a variety of fields including chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, and engineering. The advantages of multichannel Raman spectroscopy are manifold.