Raman spectroscopy for chemical analysis / Рамановская спектроскопия для геохимического анализа

This book was inspired by the transition of Raman spectroscopy from a technically demanding research technique to a useful and practical method of chemical analysis. There are many fine texts and thousands of scientific articles on research in Raman spectroscopy, primarily oriented toward understanding the Raman effect itself and using Raman scattering to probe molecular structure and dynamics. These research efforts have reached a high level of sophistication and have yielded valuable chemical and physical insights, but they rarely resulted in practical techniques for chemical analysis until approximately 1986. The impediments to broad applications of Raman spectroscopy to chemical analysis were mainly technological rather than fundamental. The instrumentation required to observe the weak Raman effect was too cumbersome and expensive for routine analysis, and interference from fluorescence precluded application to a broad range of industrial samples. As a result, the advantages of Raman spectroscopy over more common infrared absorption techniques were not exploited in analytical problems. 
Major technological and scientific innovation in the past 10 to 15 years has significantly broadened the applicability of Raman spectroscopy, particularly in chemical analysis. Fourier transform (FT)-Raman, charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors, compact spectrographs, effective laser rejection filters, near-infrared lasers, and small computers have contributed to a revolution in Raman instrumentation and made routine analytical applications possible. An increase in instrumental sensitivity by factors as large as lo5, plus decreases in both interferences and noise resulted from this “revolution.” The number of vendors of Raman spectrometers increased from 3 to 12 over a 10-year period, and integrated commercial spectrometers led to turnkey operation and robust reliability.  <...>