Search Results

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy probes the characteristic vibrational and rotational modes of chemical bonds in molecules to provide direct information about both the chemical composition and the bonding configuration of a sample. The significant advantage of the IR spectral technique is that it can be used with minimal consumables to simultaneously detect a large variety of different chemical and biochemical species with high chemical specificity. Currently, various VIS/NIR grating spectrometers are employed to cover the spectral range between 0.3 and about 2.2 (μm. Bulk-optic Fourier Transform (FT)-IR spectrometers employing variations of the Michelson interferometer are generally used to provide spectral measurements above 2.5 (μm. The FT-IR systems tend to be mechanically complex, bulky (>15 kg), and require considerable processing, maintenance and recalibration. For space-based systems, the important drivers are reliability, power consumption, mass and simplicity of operation.