Instrumentation in Raman spectroscopy: elementary theory and practice

Raman spectroscopy has gone through several stages of development linked with improvements in technology, especially in electronics, lasers, filters and detectors. Many commercially available instruments are easy to use and have become plug-and- play instruments that are now widespread in many Earth science and Cultural Heritage laboratories, but the basic theory on which the instruments are based is often poorly known, which can result in poor use or poor choice of instrument. This chapter is intended to summarize the instrument specifications imposed by Raman spectroscopy and to summarize the basic knowledge and theory for the main components of a Raman spectrometer. The second section focuses on instrument calibration for correct use of the instrument. It contains both theoretical and experimental parts. Finally, different types of Raman spectrometers are described along with their coupling to other techniques such as LIBS and laser-induced fluorescence.