Infrared Synchrotron Radiation: from Condensed Matter to Biology Researches

Abstract

Infrared spectroscopy is probably the oldest spectroscopic method applied to investigate materials and chemico-physical phenomena. Nowadays, infrared spectroscopy represents the characterization technique most applied in the industry and in many technological processes. In the last decades a significant progress has been achieved in the use of the intense and brilliant infrared emission from electron storage rings previously used only as VUV and X-ray sources. In the infrared range the low energy of the electron beam does not affect the synchrotron radiation spectral distribution, while high current will make storage rings the most brilliant infrared sources to be used for infrared spectroscopy and micro-spectroscopy. Infrared micro-spectroscopy is a unique technique that combines microscopy and spectroscopy for purposes of micro-analysis. Spatial resolution, within a microscopic field of view, is the goal of the modern infrared micro-spectroscopy applied to condensed matter physics, materials science, biophysics, and now to medicine. Although limited in spatial resolution, infrared is able to resolve chemistry using the contrast of the absorption lines. Fourier transform-infrared micro-spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation is now able to collect data with 2-4 cm - 1 resolution on the scale of 10-100 seconds up to an area of a few microns opening a new scenario: infrared spectroscopy of entire cells and tissue. Moreover, distributions of functional groups such as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids can be achieved inside a single living cell with a spatial resolution of a few microns.