The infrared spectrum of a sample is recorded by passing a beam of infrared light through the sample. When the frequency of the IR matches the vibrational frequency of a bond or collection of bonds, absorption occurs. Examination of the transmitted light reveals how much energy was absorbed at each frequency (or wavelength). This measurement can be achieved by scanning the wavelength range using a
monochromator. Alternatively, the entire wavelength range is measured using a
Fourier transform instrument and then a
transmittance or
absorbance spectrum is extracted. This technique is commonly used for analyzing samples with
covalent bonds. The number of bands roughly correlates with symmetry and molecular complexity. A variety of devices are used to hold the sample in the path of the IR beam These devices are selected on the basis of their transparency in the region of interest and their resilience toward the sample. .
Sample preparation Gas samples Gaseous samples require a sample cell with a long
pathlength to compensate for the diluteness. The pathlength of the sample cell depends on the concentration of the compound of interest. A simple glass tube with length of 5 to 10 cm equipped with infrared-transparent windows at both ends of the tube can be used for concentrations down to several hundred ppm. Sample gas concentrations well below ppm can be measured with a
White's cell in which the infrared light is guided with mirrors to travel through the gas. White's cells are available with optical pathlength starting from 0.5 m up to hundred meters.
Liquid samples Liquid samples can be sandwiched between two plates of a salt (commonly
sodium chloride, or common salt, although a number of other salts such as
potassium bromide or
calcium fluoride are also used). The plates are transparent to the infrared light and do not introduce any lines onto the spectra. With increasing technology in computer filtering and manipulation of the results, samples in solution can now be measured accurately (water produces a broad absorbance across the range of interest, and thus renders the spectra unreadable without this computer treatment).
Solid samples Solid samples can be prepared in a variety of ways. One common method is to crush the sample with an oily
mulling agent (usually mineral oil
Nujol). A thin film of the mull is applied onto salt plates and measured. The second method is to grind a quantity of the sample with a specially purified salt (usually
potassium bromide) finely (to remove scattering effects from large crystals). This powder mixture is then pressed in a mechanical
press to form a translucent pellet through which the beam of the spectrometer can pass.
Comparing to a reference (not shown), and then split into two separate beams. One is passed through the sample, the other passed through a reference. The beams are both reflected back towards a detector, however first they pass through a splitter, which quickly alternates which of the two beams enters the detector. The two signals are then compared and a printout is obtained. This "two-beam" setup gives accurate spectra even if the intensity of the light source drifts over time. It is typical to record spectrum of both the sample and a "reference". This step controls for a number of variables, e.g.
infrared detector, which may affect the spectrum. The reference measurement makes it possible to eliminate the instrument influence. The appropriate "reference" depends on the measurement and its goal. The simplest reference measurement is to simply remove the sample (replacing it by air). However, sometimes a different reference is more useful. For example, if the sample is a dilute solute dissolved in water in a beaker, then a good reference measurement might be to measure pure water in the same beaker. Then the reference measurement would cancel out not only all the instrumental properties (like what light source is used), but also the light-absorbing and light-reflecting properties of the water and beaker, and the final result would just show the properties of the solute (at least approximately). A common way to compare to a reference is sequentially: first measure the reference, then replace the reference by the sample and measure the sample. This technique is not perfectly reliable; if the infrared lamp is a bit brighter during the reference measurement, then a bit dimmer during the sample measurement, the measurement will be distorted. More elaborate methods, such as a "two-beam" setup (see figure), can correct for these types of effects to give very accurate results. The
Standard addition method can be used to statistically cancel these errors. Nevertheless, among different absorption-based techniques which are used for gaseous species detection,
Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) can be used as a calibration-free method. The fact that CRDS is based on the measurements of photon life-times (and not the laser intensity) makes it needless for any calibration and comparison with a reference Some instruments also automatically identify the substance being measured from a store of thousands of reference spectra held in storage.
FTIR measurement. The horizontal axis is the position of the mirror, and the vertical axis is the amount of light detected. This is the "raw data" which can be
Fourier transformed to get the actual spectrum.
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy provides infrared spectra. Infrared light is guided through an
interferometer and then through the sample (or vice versa). A moving mirror inside the apparatus alters the distribution of infrared energies that passs through the interferometer. The signal directly recorded, called an "interferogram", represents light output as a function of mirror position. A data-processing technique called
Fourier transform converts this raw data into the desired result (the sample's spectrum): light output as a function of infrared
wavelength (or equivalently,
wavenumber). As described above, the sample's spectrum is always compared to a reference. An alternate method for acquiring spectra is the "dispersive" or "scanning
monochromator" method. In this approach, the sample is irradiated sequentially with various single wavelengths. The dispersive method is more common in
UV-Vis spectroscopy, but is less practical in the infrared than the FTIR method. One reason that FTIR is favored is called "
Fellgett's advantage" or the "multiplex advantage": The information at all frequencies is collected simultaneously, improving both speed and
signal-to-noise ratio. Another is called "Jacquinot's Throughput Advantage": A dispersive measurement requires detecting much lower light levels than an FTIR measurement. There are other advantages, as well as some disadvantages, such as IR
NSOM,
photothermal microspectroscopy,
Nano-FTIR and
atomic force microscope based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR).
Other methods in molecular vibrational spectroscopy Infrared spectroscopy is not the only method of studying molecular vibrational spectra.
Raman spectroscopy involves an
inelastic scattering process in which only part of the energy of an incident photon is absorbed by the molecule, and the remaining part is scattered and detected. The energy difference corresponds to absorbed vibrational energy. The
selection rules for infrared and for Raman spectroscopy are different at least for some
molecular symmetries, so that the two methods are complementary in that they observe vibrations of different symmetries. Another method is
electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), in which the energy absorbed is provided by an inelastically scattered electron rather than a photon. This method is useful for studying vibrations of molecules
adsorbed on a solid surface.
high-resolution EELS (HREELS) is a technique for performing vibrational spectroscopy in a
transmission electron microscope (TEM). In combination with the high spatial resolution of the TEM, unprecedented experiments have been performed, such as nano-scale temperature measurements, mapping of isotopically labeled molecules, mapping of phonon modes in position- and momentum-space, vibrational surface and bulk mode mapping on nanocubes, and investigations of
polariton modes in van der Waals crystals. Analysis of vibrational modes that are IR-inactive but appear in
inelastic neutron scattering is also possible at high spatial resolution using EELS.
Computational infrared microscopy By using computer
simulations and
normal mode analysis it is possible to calculate theoretical frequencies of molecules. ==Absorption bands==