Computer Time Averaging of Laser Raman Spectra for Matrix-Isolated Species

With the recent development of commercially available laser-Raman spectrometers, many previously impossible types of experiments are now being performed. One of these areas of research is the laser-Raman spectroscopy of matrix-isolated samples.1–7 In this application, relatively weak signals (from the dilute sample of interest) are measured with large amounts of background scatter from the matrix material. Thus, background signals as large as 1 × 10−8 A must be suppressed while the peak signals of interest may be as small as ~0.1 × 10−9 A; under these conditions the signal-to-noise ratio becomes the limiting factor in obtaining useful spectra.