Raman Microscopy

The Raman effect is a light scattering process that provides information on the chemical composition of samples. The FMMA is equipped with two Raman microscopes capable of acquiring single Raman spectra and Raman imaging. The XplorRA Horiba Raman system is capable of scanning samples in the micron range up to centimetres in size. The Witec alpha300R Raman system specialises in high resolution imaging and can acquire Raman data on samples below 1 micron in size. Between the two systems several excitation wavelengths are available, including 532, 632 and 785 nm. A selection of gratings are also available from 600 grooves/mm up to 2400 grooves/mm.

These systems have the following capabilities

Confocal Raman imaging with potential lateral resolution of 350 nm
Excitation wavelengths of 532 nm, 632 nm, 785 nm
Range of objectives including x10, x20, x40, x50 and x100

Contact

Instrument Leader: Dr Chris Gibson
Instrument Manager: Dr Jason Gascooke

View Witec alpha300R confocal Raman microscope (2008) booking calendar

View Witec alpha300RAS Raman microscope (2022) booking calendar

View XploRA Horiba Scientific confocal Raman microscope and TERS booking calendar

Application examples

These microscopes are also able to analyse not only surfaces but bulk materials such as powders and liquids. The types of materials analysed by these microscopes include nanomaterials, plastics, polymers, paints, carbon samples, semi-conductors, minerals and cells. Raman spectra can not only inform the researcher what the material is made of, but through the analysis of peak ratios more detailed sample information can be inferred, such as the number of layers in the graphene sample.

^{An optical image, Raman image and Raman spectrum of a flake of graphene. This flake contained single layer and multi-layer graphene. The Raman spectrum shows peaks at approximately 1577 and 2670 wavenumbers typical for single layer graphene. Data acquired on the Witec Raman system.}