The course will begin with a lecture laying the foundation of the theory regarding light interaction with materials. Before then splitting off into instrument specific topics. However, much of the time on the course will be spent in the lab to actually see how these concepts are put into action in producing spectra. You will learn to what to expect for a variety of different materials and understand what the peak positions and intensities mean for a particular sample. Areas that are covered include:
• General concepts: How light interacts with materials, the electromagnetic spectrum, the Beer-Lambert law and introduction to the instrumentation
• Electronic transitions and the UV-vis: Wavelength range, fundamental concepts of electron configurations and bonding, anatomy of a UV-vis spectrophotometer, sample types and preparation and using an integrating sphere
• Vibrational transitions in infrared spectroscopy (FTIR and Raman): Wavelength range, basics of bond vibrations, peak positions and functional groups, spectra interpretation, anatomy of an FTIR vs Raman, practicalities of analysis and sample considerations
