Special Issues-11-02-2018

Click the title above to open the Spectroscopy November 2018 Supplement, Advances in Portable and Handheld Spectroscopy, in an interactive PDF format.

Portable transmission Raman spectroscopy, combined with chemometric modeling, is quickly emerging as a valued technique for content-uniformity testing, given its high chemical specificity, which is particularly useful when dealing with complex pharmaceutical formulations that contain multiple components.

Handheld Raman, mid-infrared and near infrared spectrometers have launched vibrational spectroscopy into a new era of in-the-field and on-site analysis, as the application examples discussed here demonstrate. We assess the technological developments that have led to this progress.

Portable spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) enables rapid identification of materials concealed by a wide variety of nonmetallic sealed containers. This technique has been successfully used by the military, first responders, and customs and law enforcement operators in the detection of explosives, chemical agents, precursors and hazardous narcotics, thus enabling the acquisition of better information without disturbing the materials in question.