Raman Spectroscopy

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Mumbai-based Tata Memorial Centre has used Raman Spectroscopy to detect RNA viruses present in saliva samples.

Concept:

• Raman Spectroscopy is a non-destructive chemical analysis technique which provides detailed information about chemical structure, phase and polymorphy, crystallinity and molecular interactions.
• It is based upon the interaction of light with the chemical bonds within a material.
• Raman is a light scattering technique, whereby a molecule scatters incident light from a high intensity laser light source. Most of the scattered light is at the same wavelength (or color) as the laser source and does not provide useful information – this is called Rayleigh Scatter.
• However a small amount of light (typically 0.0000001%) is scattered at different wavelengths (or colors), which depend on the chemical structure of the analyte and this is called Raman Scatter.