Handheld FT-IR Spectrometers: Bringing the Spectrometer to the Sample

摘要

The maturity of analytical technology tends to follow two major paths: More capability with advanced features and greater performance, or smaller, less expensive, and easier to use. The former path tends to represent the evolution of today's laboratory instruments, whereas the latter path leads to instrumentation being used out of the laboratory, by a different type of end-user. Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a well-established analytical technology. In the past decade, FT-IR spectroscopy has made the leap from the laboratory to at-site applications in less traditional environments. This article focuses on the next evolutionary leap that FT-IR spectroscopy is undergoing -- the emergence of handheld, portable FT-IR spectrometers and the implications with respect to applications and use.