Recent aspects of surface infrared spectroscopy

Among the various classes of techniques used to probe solid surfaces, surface infrared spectroscopy has gained wide recognition for its ability to determine the chemical nature of surfaces and interfaces. Synchrotron infrared radiation has been demonstrated to be a source of high brightness in the far‐IR region, allowing determination of adsorbate‐substrate modes as well as frustrated vibrational modes of adsorbed molecules. Sum frequency generation, which uses both IR and visible pulses generated by lasers, and coupled at surfaces, allows the identification of species strictly located at the interface. Kinetic as well as dynamics measurements are a growing area of time‐resolved spectroscopy, using either spectrometers or lasers.