Laser Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

For many years Raman spectroscopy has been a powerful tool for the investigation of molecular vibrations and rotations. In the pre-laser era, however, its main drawback was a lack of sufficiently intense radiation sources. The introduction of lasers, therefore, has indeed revolutionized this classical field of spectroscopy. Lasers have not only greatly enhanced the sensitivity of spontaneous Raman spectroscopy but they have furthermore initiated new spectroscopic techniques, based on the stimulated Raman effect, such as coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) or hyper-Raman spectroscopy. The research activities in laser Raman spectroscopy have recently shown an impressive expansion and a vast literature on this field is available. In this chapter we summarize only briefly the basic background of the Raman effect and present some experimental techniques that have been developed for Raman spectroscopy of gaseous media. For more thorough studies of this interesting field the textbooks and reviews given in Anderson (The Raman effect, vols. 1, 2, Dekker, New York, 1971/1973); Long (Raman spectroscopy, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977, The Raman effect: a unified treatment of the theory of Raman scattering by molecules, Wiley, New York, 2001); Smith and Dent (Modern Raman spectroscopy, Wiley, New York, 2005); Schrader (Infrared and Raman spectroscopy, Wiley/VCH, Weinheim, 1993); Pelletier (ed.) (Analytical applications of Raman spectroscopy, Blackwell Science, Oxford, 1999); Ferrano (Introductory Raman spectroscopy, 2nd edn., Academic Press, New York, 2002); Ferraro and Nakamato (Introductory Raman spectroscopy, Academic Press, New York, 1994); Lewis and Edwards (eds.) (Handbook of Raman spectroscopy, Dekker, New York, 2001); Tobin (Laser Raman spectroscopy, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1971); Weber (ed.) (Raman spectroscopy of gases and liquids, Topics curr. phys., vol. 11, Springer, Berlin, 1979); Placzek (Handbuch der Radiologie, vol. VI, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 1934); Barron (Frontiers of laser spectroscopy of gases, NATO ASI series, vol. 234, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1988); Colthup, Daly and Wiberley (Introduction to infrared and Raman spectroscopy, 3rd edn., Academic Press, New York, 1990); Clark and Hester (eds.) (Advances in infrared and Raman spectroscopy, vols. 1–17, Heyden, London 1975–1990); Popp and Kiefer (Encyclopedia of analytical chemistry, Wiley, New York, 2001) and the conference proceedings (Pashinin (ed.) in Laser-induced Raman spectroscopy in crystals and gases, Nova Science, Commack, 1988; Durig and Sullivan (eds.) in XII int. conf. on Raman spectroscopy, Wiley, Chichester, 1990) are recommended. More information on Raman spectroscopy of liquids and solids can be found in Clark and Hester (eds.) (Advances in infrared and Raman spectroscopy, vols. 1–17, Heyden, London, 1975–1990); Kuzmany (Festkorperspektroskopie, Springer, Berlin, 1989), Cardona (ed.) (Light scattering in solids, 2nd edn., Topics appl. phys., vol. 8, Springer, Berlin, 1983); Cardona and Guntherodt (eds.) (Light scattering in solids II–VI, Topics appl. phys., vols. 50, 51, 54, 66, 68, Springer, Berlin, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1991); Szymanski (Raman spectroscopy I & II, Plenum, New York, 1970); Herzberg (Molecular spectra and molecular structure, vol. II, Infrared and Raman spectra of polyatomic molecules, van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1945).