Deep UV Raman Spectroscopy

• Main Author: Patil, Raj
• Other Authors: Kieu, Khanh Q.
• Language: en_US
• Published: The University of Arizona. 2016
• Subjects: Optical Sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613378; http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/613378

This thesis examines the performance of a custom built deep UV laser (257.5nm) for Raman spectroscopy and the advantages of Raman spectroscopy with a laser in the deep UV over a laser in the visible range (532 nm). It describes the theory of resonance Raman scattering, the experimental setup for Raman spectroscopy and a few Raman spectroscopy measurements. The measurements were performed on biological samples oak tree leaf and lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteria from probotioc medicinal capsules. Fluorescence free Raman spectra were acquired for the two samples with 257.5 nm laser. The Raman spectra for the two samples with a 532nm laser was masked with fluorescence. Raman measurements for an inorganic salt sodium nitrate showed a resonance Raman effect with 257.5 nm laser which led to enhancement in the Raman intensity as compared to that with 532 nm laser. Therefore we were able to demonstrate two advantages of deep UV Raman spectroscopy. First one is the possibility of acquiring fluorescence free spectra for biological samples. Second is the possibility of gaining enhancement in Raman intensity due to resonance Raman effect. It was observed that 257.5 nm laser requires optimization to reduce the bandwidth of the laser to get better resolution. The 257.5 nm laser also needs to be optimized to obtain higher power to get better signal to noise ratio. The experimental setup can also be further improved to obtain better resolution. If the improvements required in the setup are implemented, the deep UV Raman setup will become an important tool for spectroscopy.