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Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy -A Review

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Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy - A Review
Arkajyoti Banerjee
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science,
Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032,
India

(Dated: 12 June, 2021)

Infrared spectroscopy has always been an effective and powerful technique for the identification of
molecules. With the advent of Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, its applications have now extended
to various fields of research involving complex structures and phenomena. The article reviews the
basic theory of bond vibrations and IR spectra and describes the idea of Fourier transformation algo-
rithm. It describes the basic instrumentation of an FT-IR spectrometer, and also discusses about the
various applications of this technique.

CONTENTS of dynamic systems, quantitative analyses of complex com-

pounds and mixtures, biological spectroscopy, spectroscopy
I. Introduction 1 of microscopic systems and hyperspectral imaging, and the
A. Bond Vibrations 1
study of many types of interfacial phenomena.
1. Morse Potential 1
2. Frequency of bond vibration 2
B. IR spectra 2 The impact of Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spec-
C. Fourier Transform 3 troscopy was not recognised immediately. However, as time
1. The mathematical principle 3 progressed, the usage of FT-IR spectrometers became a
2. The elementary concept 4 dominant technique for the measurement of infrared spectra.
II. Methodology 4 Let us consider the reason behind this.
A. Michelson Interferometer 4
1. Structure 4 Normally, spectra of compounds in the mid-infrared region
2. IR Source 5 are measured at a resolution of ∼ 4 cm−1 . If a prism or
3. Detector 5
a grating monochromator is used to measure such spectra
4. Beam Splitter 5
B. Generation of an interferogram 5 between 4000 and 400 cm−1 , only one 4 cm−1 resolution
C. The Fourier Transform algorithm 6 element in the 3600 cm−1 range is measured at at a time,
while the remaining 899 elements are not. Thus, it was a very
III. Results and Analysis 7 less efficient (∼ 0.1% efficiency) and time-taking process.
IV. Discussion 7
A. Some considerations of FT-IR Spectroscopy 7 In FT-IR spectroscopy, all the resolution elements are mea-
B. Applications of Fourier Transform IR Spectroscopy 8 sured simultaneously during the measurement. Moreover, a
larger amount of radiation can be passed between the source
V. Conclusion 11
and the detector for each resolution element. Consequently,
Acknowledgments 11 reflection, transmission and even emission spectra can be
measured significantly faster and with higher precision and
References 11
sensitivity than ever before.

I. INTRODUCTION A. Bond Vibrations

Infrared spectroscopy has evolved dramatically over the 1. Morse Potential

past few decades. Although in large research laboratories
nowadays, structures of complex organic molecules are
determined by using a combination of techniques, including
mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and
X-Ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy still plays an important
role today. It provides a lot of information unattainable by
other methods. In 1969, numerous applications other than
just finding molecular structures became available with the
advent of the first commercial mid-Infrared spectrometer with
better than 2 cm−1 resolution. These include examination
For a simple molecule, the bond dissociation energy (BDE)
can be related to the normal mode within the molecules.
Normal modes are the vibrational degrees of freedom that a
molecule has - namely, stretches, bends, wags, torsions etc.
Each has its own fundamental frequency, described by a po-
tential function, the simplest of which is the Morse poten-
tial, which describes the bond-stretching vibrations. Poten-
tial energy is plotted as a function of the distance between
two bonded atoms in a molecule. Figure 1 shows such a plot.
 2

At very short distances, nuclear repulsion dominates and the involving |∆vi | > 1 also occur commonly, although with a
atoms are repelled apart, while at long distances, atoms move lesser probability.
freely with respect to each other. The shape of the curve is an
indicative of an anharmonic oscillator. (Datta, 2021)
Each node, however, involves approximately harmonic dis-
placements of the atoms from their equilibrium positions. For
each node i, the atoms vibrate with a frequency νi . The poten-
tial energy, V(r) of a harmonic oscillator is shown by a dashed
line as a function of the distance, r.

 2
V(r) = De 1 − e−(r−re ) − De (1)

where De is a measure of the dissociation energy, and re is the

equilibrium bond length.

FIG. 2 Wave function for a harmonic oscillator © (Dougherty, 2006)

The shape of the Morse potential is also an indicative of the

bond strength. Deeper the potential well, stronger the bond.
It also corresponds to a shorter equilibrium distance. This is
given by Badger’s rule1 .

2. Frequency of bond vibration

Similar to a spring, the frequency, ν of bond vibration is

given by
s
1 k
ν= (3)
2π µ
where k is a measure of the force constant of the bond and µ
FIG. 1 Visualisation of Morse Potential © (de Haseth, 2007) is the reduced mass of the bonded atoms, with masses m1 and
m2 , given by
m1 m2
The energy state, Vvi , corresponding to the vibrational state µ= (4)
vi , as obtained by solving the Schrödinger’s equation for such m1 + m2
a potential function, is given as The wave number, ν̃, which is the wavelength inverse, is
! related to the frequency as
1
Vvi = vi + hνi (2) ν = cν̃ (5)
2
(O’Malley, n.d.)
where h is the Planck’s constant, νi is the fundamental fre-
quency of the particular mode, and vi is the vibrational quan-
tum number of the ith mode (vi = 0,1,2,...). While frequen- B. IR spectra
cies in hertz is denoted by ν, vibrational frequencies are often
written in terms of the wavenumber, ν̃, with the unit cm−1 . Since the vibrational energy levels are quantised, a bond at
Evidently, the energy states are quantised. As the atoms vi- a particular energy level vi can absorb only a certain wave-
brate, their positions move with time relative to each other. length of the electromagnetic spectrum to get excited to the
The lowest energy vibration is known as the zero-point energy
(ZPE). The probability of finding a particular bond length re-
quires solving Schrödinger’s equation. If the potential func- 1 Badger’s rule states that the strength of a bond (in terms of force constant)
tion was perfectly harmonic, only those transitions involving correlates with the bond length. That is, increase in bond strength leads
∆vi = ±1 would have been allowed. The Morse potential, to corresponding bond shortening and vice versa. (Wikipedia contributors,
however, is slightly anharmonic, and as a result, transitions 2021c)
 3

next higher energy level vi+1 . These wavelengths seem to fall

in the infrared region, and so the aforementioned trends are
observed in IR spectra. While most of the vibrational modes
correspond to the energy of radiation in the mid-infrared
spectrum (400 to 4000 cm−1 ), the far-infrared region can
contain useful information on the vibration of heavy atoms
and weak bonds, such as hydrogen bonds.

With the exception of enantiomers, each and every

molecule has somewhat different vibrational modes from all
other molecules. As a result, the infrared spectrum of a partic-
ular molecule is unique and can be used for the identification FIG. 3 The infrared absorption spectrum of polystyrene © (Olmos
of that molecule. Infrared spectra give detailed information et al., 2014)
about about a particular molecule besides simply detecting the
presence or absence of certain functional groups.
(Jay, Jul 4, 2014)

The absorption spectrum of a sample is calculated using the

following equation:

I0
A = log (6)
I

where A is the Absorbance, I0 is the intensity of the incident

light and I = Intensity of the transmitted light from the sam-
ple.
The relation of absorbance with the concentration of
molecules in a sample is given by the Lambert-Beer’s Law: FIG. 4 The infrared spectrum of the same compound (polystyrene)
plotted in percent transmittance (%T) © (Smith, 2011)

Absorbance and %T are mathematically related to each

A = εlC (7) other, and it can be easily converted using FTIR software from
one to the other. While the %T spectra can be used only for
qualitative analysis of the sample, the absorbance spectra can
where ε is the measure of the sample’s absorptivity, l gives the be used for qualitative as well as quantitative analysis, since
path length and C is the concentration. absorbance is directly related to the concentration.

The y-axis of an infrared spectrum can be plotted in units

called percent transmittance (%T), which measures the per- C. Fourier Transform
centage of light transmitted by a sample, or in units of the
absorption. %T spectra are calculated as follows: 1. The mathematical principle

As the name implies, the processing of the spectral data

I requires a special algorithmic mathematical treatment, known
%T = 100 × (8) as the Fourier transformation. With certain considerations, a
I0
function f (x) can be written as a power series expansion of
sine and cosine terms
∞
A0 X  nπx nπx 
It is worth noting that in the %T spectrum seen in Figure f (x) = + An cos + Bn sin (9)
4 the peaks point down, which shows those wave numbers 2 n=1
c c
which were transmitted measurably less than 100% of the in-
where
cident infrared light. However, in the absorption spectrum as
Z c
shown in figure 3, the peaks at the wavenumbers of maximum A0 1
absorption point up, showing maximum absorbance. = f (x)dx
2 2c −c
 4

is the mean or the average value of f (x) over the interval a positive value, the analyzing wave will also be positive, and
(−c, c). vice versa. The magnitude of the sum will be proportional to
the amplitude of the cosine wave interferogram.
1 c
Z
nπx
An = f (x) cos dx
c −c c
For an analyzing wave whose frequency is very close to that
and of the monochromatic interferogram, a greater retardation is
Z c needed for the resultant to take a zero value than for analyz-
1 nπx
Bn = f (x) sin dx ing waves whose frequencies are well separated from that of
c −c c
the interferogram. In fact, if the frequency of the analyzing
The above expansion (given by Eq. 9) is called the Fourier wave is gradually increased from that of the interferogram, it
series expansion of the function f (x). f (x) may be periodic is not too difficult to visualize that the resultant will decrease
with period 2c or it may even be defined in just the inter- from the large positive magnitude discussed in the previous
val (−c, c). In both cases, the Fourier series representation paragraph, pass through zero to a negative value, and then os-
will be periodic with a period equal to 2c. In the equation, cillate between negative and positive values whose amplitude
although the limit of the integration is zero to infinity, prac- decreases as the frequency difference between the interfero-
tically, however, the question of how many terms to include gram and analyzing wave increases. The oscillatory patter can
depends on a lot of factors such as the extent of resolution and then be described mathematically by the sine function. The
accuracy required, storage capacity and computation power. greater the retardation, higher is the frequency of the oscilla-
(Bates, 1976) (Khutoryansky, September 6, 2015) tion and better is the resolution. More advanced FTIR spec-
trometers nowadays use a much faster and more efficient al-
gorithm known as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). (de Haseth,
2007)

FIG. 6 Intensity profile for absorption spectra after discrete Fourier

FIG. 5 Partial sums of the Fourier series representation of a square- transform © (Pariy et al., 2019)
wave function: f (x) = 0, −2 < x < −1 and 1 < x < 2;
 = 2, −1 ≤ x ≤ 1. The series
f (x)  expansion is f (x) = 1 +
4
π
cos πx
2
− 13 cos 3πx
2
+ 15 cos 5πx
2
− ...
II. METHODOLOGY

2. The elementary concept A. Michelson Interferometer

The intuition behind Fourier-Transform is fairly simple to 1. Structure

understand. For a long cosine-wave interferogram digitised
at equal intervals, to perform the classical Fourier transform,
we simply take the product of each point and the the corre-
sponding point of an analyzing cosine wave of unit amplitude
and add the resultant values. For each analyzing wave
whose frequency is different from that of the cosinusoidal
interferogram, the sum will be zero (i.e., the two waves are
orthogonal). If the frequencies of the interferogram and the
analyzing wave are the same, the resultant will be a large pos-
itive number, since at each point that the interferogram takes
The Michelson Interferometer is a device which uses a
beam splitter to split an incident beam of light into two per-
pendicular paths and then those two resultant beams are re-
combined after the introduction of a path difference, induc-
ing an interference. The path difference can be regulated and
varied, and the intensity of the emergent beam can be mea-
sured as a function of the path difference by a photodetector.
The simplest form of the Michelson interferometer is shown
in Figure 7.

FIG. 7 Schematic diagram of the Michelson interferometer ©
(Wikipedia contributors, 2021a)
A collimated beam of light from an external polychromatic
infrared radiation source is incident on the beam splitter. A
part of it is reflected to a fixed mirror while another part is
transmitted to a movable mirror. After reflection from the
respective mirrors, the beams retrace their path and return to
the beam splitter and then interfere. They are again partly
reflected and partly transmitted. The optical path difference
can be controlled by moving the movable mirror. Due to
the interference, the intensity of each beam passing to the
detector and returning to the source depends on the difference
in path of the beams in the two arms of the interferometer.
The variation observed in the intensity profile of the beams
passing to the detector and returning to the source as a
function of the retardation ultimately yields the spectral
information in a Fourier transform spectrometer. (eGPAT,
Apr 4, 2021)
Generally, two things can be done with the movable mir-
ror. It can either be moved with an unchanging velocity
(a continuous-scan interferometer) or be held at uniformly
(equally) spaced points for fixed short periods of time and
stepped rapidly between these points (a step-scan interferome-
ter). In usual commercial interferometers, which are generally
of the continuous-scan type, the mirror is moved at a velocity
greater than ∼ 0.1 cm/s. Such an interferometer is often called
a rapid-scan interferometer.
(Linkletter, Sep 16, 2014) (Kumar, May 9, 2018)
5
2. IR Source
For the mid-infrared region, the most common source used
is Globar2 . The near-IR (short-wavelength IR) region needs
a higher temperature source, which is usually a tungsten-
halogen lamp. For the far-infrared region, a mercury dis-
charge lamp is sufficient.
3. Detector
For a near-IR system, uncooled indium gallium arsenide
photodiodes or DTGS3 are usually used. A mid-IR system
requires pyroelectric detectors. Such systems can respond to
alterations in temperature caused by the variation in intensity
of infrared radiation falling on them. DGTS or lithium tanta-
late may be used. For the far-infrared sources, where the beam
source and the beam splitter are not so efficient, highly sensi-
tive detectors, such as liquid-helium-cooled silicon or germa-
nium bolometers must be used.
4. Beam Splitter
An ideal beam spitter should reflect and transmit exactly
50% of the incident beam. For the mid-IR region the
beamsplitter is typically made of potassium bromide with a
germanium-based coating that gives it a semi-reflective na-
ture. Since KBr absorbs the wavelengths beyond 25 µm very
strongly, CsCl is used to extend the range. For the near-IR
region, calcium fluoride is the usual marterial used. Polymer
films are generally used for the far-IR region, although it can
cover only a limited wavelength range.
B. Generation of an interferogram
First, let us consider an idealised case, when the source is
monochromatic (typically a 633 nm HeNe laser4 is used), and
the beam of light emitted is perfectly narrow and collimated.
Let λ0 be the wavelength of the radiation in centimeters. Then
the wavenumber of the radiation ν̃0 = λ10 . Let us assume that
the beam splitter is perfectly non-absorbing whose reflectance
and the transmittance are both exactly 50%. The intensity or
the power of the source shall be denoted by I(ν̃0 ).
2 Globar is a silicon carbide rod of 5 to 10 mm width and 20 to 50 mm length
which is electrically heated up to 1, 000 to 1, 650◦ C (1, 830 to 3, 000◦ F).
When combined with a downstream variable interference filter, it emits
radiation from 4 to 15 micrometres wavelength.
3 Deuterated triglycine sulfate
4 A helium–neon laser or He-Ne laser, is a type of gas laser whose gain
medium consists of a mixture of 10:1 ratio of helium and neon at a total
pressure of about 1 torr inside of a small electrical discharge. The best-
known and most widely used He-Ne laser operates at a wavelength of 632.8
nm, in the red part of the visible spectrum. (Wikipedia contributors, 2021b)
 6

When the movable mirror and the fixed mirror are kept
exactly at the same distance from the beam splitter, the
optical path difference (OPD), also called the retardation,
denoted by δ, is zero. At this point, the waves constructively
interfere, and the intensities of the beams passing to the fixed
and the the movable mirrors add up to give the resultant beam.
Any cosine wave can be represented as A = A0 cos 2π f t,
where f gives the frequency of the wave. Comparing it with
eq. 13, it becomes evident that the frequency of the interfero-
gram, known as the Fourier frequency, is
fν̃ = 2vν̃ (14)

When the movable mirror is displaced by a small distance, When the source is a continuum, the expression for the inter-
equal to 41 λ0 , the OPD now becomes λ20 , the beams now are ferogram becomes
out of phase when they recombine at the beam splitter. As a
result, they destructively interfere. Z ∞
S (δ) = B(ν̃) cos 2πν̃0 δdν̃ (15)
−∞
4 λ0 ,
1
If the movable mirror is displaced again by it results in
a further retardation by λ20 , the total retardation now becoming If a computer is used to perform the Fourier transform, the in-
λ. This again results in a constructive interference on recom- terferogram would need to be digitized at infinitesimally small
bination of the two beams at the beam splitter. If the velocity intervals of the optical path difference. Smaller sampling in-
of the movable mirror is kept constant, the signal at the de- terval means greater spectral range can be measured.
tector, intensity I 0 (δ) measured as a function of the OPD, will
vary sinusoidally, with a maxima registered at intervals of λ0 .
At all points, where the OPD is an intgral multiple of λ0 , the
intensity I 0 (δ) recorded will be the same as the intensity of the C. The Fourier Transform algorithm
source, I(ν̃0 ). At any point, it is given by the equation
! When a discrete interferogram, which is a linear superpo-
1 2π sition of multiple cosine waves, is fed into a computer, the
I (δ) = I(ν̃0 ) 1 + cos δ
0
2 λ0 Fourier-transform algorithm can return the frequencies of the
(10)
1 cosine waves which are present in the interferogram. In MAT-
= I(ν̃0 ) (1 + cos 2πν̃0 δ)
2 LAB, the code can be written as:
In the equation 10, it is the modulated ac component f u n c t i o n s = S (w)
0.5I(ν̃0 ) cos 2πν̃0 δ which is important and is referred to as the s = c o s ( 2 * w* x * p i ) ;
interferogram. In practice, however, the intensity of the beam end
that arrives at the detector depends on the beam splitter ef- Signal = S (5);
ficiency, detector response, and amplifier characteristics too. X = []; Y = [];
The simplest equation representing the interferogram is there- n = 1;
fore for i = 1:10
S (δ) = 0.5B(ν̃0 ) cos 2πν̃0 δ (11) Test = S( i ) ;
A = Signal .* Test ;
The physical quantity B(ν̃0 ) is the measure of the intensity of F = i n t e g r a l (@( x ) A, 0 , n ) ;
the source, modified by the instrumental characteristics and X = [X, i ] ;
correction factors. S (δ) represents the ac signal (in volts) from Y = [Y, F ]
the amplifier. end
Mathematically, S (δ) is termed as the cosine Fourier p l o t (X, Y)
transform of B(ν̃0 ). The spectrum is calculated from the
interferogram by computing the cosine Fourier transform of (Linkletter, Jun 19, 2018)
S (δ). This which justifies the name given to this technique of In short, the interferogram is sequentially multiplied with
spectrometry: Fourier transform spectroscopy. cosine terms of various frequencies and integrated. Only those
terms integrate over to a positive value, the frequencies of
In the typical rapid-scanning Michelson interferometers, which are present in the signal. The frequencies which are
the movable mirror is moved at a velocity which is kept con- absent in the signal integrate to zero. Accordingly, a graph of
stant at, sy, v (cm s−1 ). In such a case, the retardation varies intensity vs frequency (or wave number) is plotted.
with time t, as If a sample absorbs certain frequencies, it is indicated in the
plot. This gives the IR spectrum of the sample. The percent-
δ = 2vt cm (12)
age transmittance of the different frequencies (or wave num-
Substituting eq. 12 in eq. 11, we get bers) gets depicted in the plot. Based on this plot, the sample
can be qualitatively and quantitatively (from the absorption
S (δ) = 0.5B(ν̃0 ) cos 2πν̃0 · 2vt (13) spectra) analysed.
 7

III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS Wave number (cm−1 ) Percentage absorbed

2.0 20
14.0 90
14.5 60
15.0 70
17.0 80
17.5 85
27.0 70

TABLE I Frequencies absorbed by the sample

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Some considerations of FT-IR Spectroscopy

1. Effect of beam divergence and finite displacement of

FIG. 8 A sample interferogram obtained for a hypothetical sample
Let us consider a sample interferogram obtained for a
hypothetical sample. Fig 8 gives the plot of the signal
received by the photodetector as a function of the retardation
(OPD). The discrete valued interferogram, after being fed to a
computer, returned a plot of the intensity vs frequency, giving
the spectrum of the hypothetical sample (Fig 9).
2. In computing the Fourier integral, the number of data
mirror - The only factor that determines the resolu-
tion of the Michelson interferometer is the total dis-
placement of the movable mirror past the zero retar-
dation point. The assumption here is that the beam of
light that illuminates the interferometer is perfectly col-
limated and that no beam gets diverged by the mirrors
or the beam splitter.
Practically, however, beam divergence does occur, and
the consequence is that the marginal rays of the beam
move in an altered path than paraxial rays of the beam,
causing the retardation of the extreme rays to be differ-
ent from that of the axial rays. On account of this, for
some value of the retardation, the paraxial and marginal
rays will interfere destructively at all frequencies so that
if the movable mirror is further displaced, no further in-
crease in resolution occurs.
points is is very important in determining the accuracy
and precision. This, of course, is limited by the reso-
lution, which depends on smallest distance the movable
mirror can be displaced past the zero retardation point.
The number of data points is also limited by the amount
of data the available computing facilities can handle.

Over typical dispersive spectrometry, modern FT spectrom-

etry has three major advantages. (Anonymous, 2008) From
the advantages given below, it is not surprising to see how FT-
IR spectroscopy has largely displaced dispersive instruments.
1. While in dispersive IR spectroscopy, every wavelength
across the spectrum is scanned individually, which
makes it a prolonged process, in FT-IR, every sweep of
the movable mirror represents one complete scan of the
entire infrared spectrum, and the different scans can be
FIG. 9 Spectrum obtained after Fourier transform combined to allow the averaging of the signal. This is a
much faster process. It is often termed as the multiplex
advantage, or the Fellgett’s advantage.
From the above plot, it is evident that the sample absorbed
the following wavelengths: 2. There is no limit to the amount of light reaching the
From the IR spectra, we can, thus, analyse the composition detector using a slit. Also, a fewer number of mirrors
of the sample. mean lesser reflective loss. This allows more energy

to reach the sample and subsequently the detector in a
Fourier transform IR spectrometer. This is termed as
the Jacquinot’s advantage.
A higher value of the signal-to-noise ration high sen-
sitivity of the instrument for small absorptions, and
the resolution of the sample spectrum will be greater.
For instance, the infrared analysis of proteins is next
to impossible using a classical dispersive spectrometer.
However, it is a fairly plain and regular measurement
using an FTIR spectrometer.
3. Since it uses a laser to regulate the velocity of the mov-
able mirror and to record the data collection throughout
the sweep of the mirror, being a constant sine wave, a
high precision and accuracy is obtained. This is not pos-
sible in instruments which require external calibration
standards.
The FT-IR spectrometer is not without disadvantages.
Some of the advantages may prove to be certain disadvantages
as well. (Eaton, n.d.) For example,
1. The Fellgett advantage gives rise to disadvantage if a
noise-limited source is used. This arises since all the
regions of the spectra are used simultaneously. If noise
occurs on one part of the spectrum, it spreads through-
out the spectrum in an FTIR system. This does not hap-
pen in a dispersive spectrometer, where it is seen only
in the region of the spectrum in which it arose.
Thankfully, when we are looking at the mid-infrared re-
gion, the system detector is noise-limited, i.e., it can dif-
ferentiate between the signal and the noise. So, in most
cases, the Fellgett’s disadvantage does not apply.
2. FT-IR instruments use single beam, while dispersive
spectrometers use double beam. This can lead to loss
of precision caused by fluctuations in the concentration
of gases in the atmosphere, in case of a highly-sensitive
experiment or those experiments which require a long
time.
B. Applications of Fourier Transform IR Spectroscopy
Infrared spectroscopy is primarily used in industrial and
laboratory chemical research. It has wide applications in the
control of quality of products during the process of produc-
tion, dynamic measurement in geological analysis, and mon-
itoring strategies such as the long-term unattended measure-
ment of carbon dioxide concentrations in greenhouses and
growth chambers using infrared gas analyzers. FT-IR spec-
troscopy has refined several IR sampling techniques, such as
ATR5 and DRIFT6 spectroscopy.
5 Attenuated total reflection (ATR) is a sampling technique used in conjunc-
tion with infrared spectroscopy which enables samples to be examined
8
In forensic analysis, it can be used to study the extent of
polymer degradation for identifying alcohol content in blood.
It is often used in analysing solid samples without the need
for cutting the samples. It uses ATR spectroscopy, where sam-
ples are pressed against the face of a single crystal. IR radi-
ation is allowed to pass through the crystal, which interacts
only with the sample at the interface between the two materi-
als.
With a rapid increase in computer filtering technology and
manipulation of the results, samples in their solution state can
now be measured with accuracy and precision (a broad ab-
sorbance across the range of interest is often produced by wa-
ter, thus rendering the spectra unreadable without such a com-
puter treatment).
Infrared spectroscopy is also useful in measuring the de-
gree of polymerization in the manufacturing of polymers. Al-
terations in the bond-character or quantity can be assessed by
monitoring at a specific frequency over time. Advanced re-
search instruments can take IR measurements across the range
of interest at a frequency as high as 32 times per second. This
can be combined with measurements made using other tech-
niques, thus, making the observations of chemical reactions
and processes faster and more precise.
In the food industry, IR spectroscopy can be used to detect
which compounds are present in what concentrations in dif-
ferent food products.
In devices used for the detection of gas-leakage, which can
detect hydrocarbon gas leaks during natural gas and crude oil
transportation, IR spectrometers are often used.
In February 2014, based on IR spectroscopy, NASA
announced a largely improved database, for detecting and
monitoring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the
universe.
With the development of rapid scanning FT-IR instrumen-
tation there has been a large impact on infrared spectroscopy
spectroscopy. It can entirely replace the usage of dispersive
spectrometer. Apart from this, its enhanced speed and sensi-
tivity has vastly expanded the field of its applications. Even in
cases where very little energy reaches the detector, the spectra
can be measured. Also, the scan rates can far exceed 50 spec-
tra per second. It has its applications not only in chemical and
biological research, but also in geological and food research.
• Emission spectroscopy and IR chemiluminescence:
Measuring the IR emission spectra of materials can give
directly in the solid or liquid state without further preparation. It uses
the property of total internal reflection resulting in an evanescent wave.
(Wikipedia contributors, 2020a)
6 Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT) is
based on the phenomenon of diffuse reflection of incident light produced
by the sample’s rough surface reflection in all directions. Reflected rays are
then collected by an ellipsoid or paraboloid mirror. The material’s proper-
ties such as shape, compactness, refractive index, reflectivity and absoptiv-
ity can then be determined. (Wikipedia contributors, 2020b)

us information about the chemical and physical proper-
ties of systems such as fused salts and ceramics at high
temperatures.
• Infrared spectra of aqueous solution: In many areas
of research in biological and chemical sciences, mea-
suring the infrared spectra of aqueous solutions is im-
portant. Due to the very strong infrared absorption
bands of water, it is really difficult and sometimes even
impossible to obtain the spectra of dissolved species,
especially for dilute solutions where the water bands
overlap with those of the solute. In these situations, the
throughput advantage comes to the rescue. The ability
to manipulate spectral data turns out to be a huge ad-
vantage making such measurements nearly routine with
an FTIR spectrometer.
• Nanomaterials and Biomolecules: FTIR spectroscopy
is also used to investigate various nanomaterials
and proteins in hydrophobic membrane environments.
Studies show the ability of FTIR to directly determine
the polarity at a given site along the backbone of a trans-
membrane protein.
• Infrared microscope and imaging: With the help of
an infrared microscope, samples can be observed and
spectra can be measured from regions as small as 5 mi-
crons across. Images can be generated by combining
a microscope with linear or 2-D array detectors. The
spatial resolution can approach 5 microns with tens of
thousands of pixels. The images contain a spectrum
for each pixel and can be viewed as maps showing the
intensity at any wavelength or combination of wave-
lengths. This allows the distribution of different chemi-
cal species within the sample to be seen. Typical stud-
ies include analysing tissue sections as an alternative to
conventional histopathology and examining the homo-
geneity of pharmaceutical tablets.
Quality visible-light microscopes can be re-engineered
to work with mid-infrared radiation to take the infrared
spectra of small samples.
9
FIG. 10 The optics of an Infrared Microscope © (Smith, 2011)
• Nanoscale spectroscopy below diffraction limit: Inte-
grating an FTIR instrument into scanning near-field op-
tical microscopy platform can further improve its spa-
tial resolution of FTIR below the micrometer scale. The
corresponding technique is often termed as nano-FTIR.
Such a technique allows us to perform broadband spec-
troscopy on materials in ultra-small quantities, for ex-
ample, virus particles and even protein complexes, with
a spatial resolution of 10 to 20 nm,
• Water content determination in plastics and com-
posites: In laboratory setting, analysis of fairly thin
plastic and composite parts using FTIR spectrometers
can help us determine the exact amount of water con-
tent. Such a technique generally makes use of the max-
ima of the absorbance band at about 5,200 cm−1 which
can be correlated with the actual amount of water con-
tent in the material under consideration.
• Kinetics of chemical reactions and spectra of tran-
sient species: The rapid measurement and storage of
the infrared spectrum made possible by such a technol-
ogy allows the study of the kinetics of multi-step com-
plex reactions with half-lives on the order of seconds.
• In Geology: Quantification of the concentrations of
volatile element, determination of the structures of min-
erals, measuring the structural changes in natural and
synthetic minerals, examination of the physical and
chemical properties of geologic materials and surfaces
have been made possible with the help of laboratory
FTIR spectroscopy. It has also been used by remote
sensing researchers to calibrate the signals obtained
from mineral mixtures. (Swayze, n.d.)
 10

FIG. 11 Typical interferogram of Earth’s atmosphere collected using

transmission mode on an IR bench with a KBr beam splitter, Globar
source and DTGS detector © (Swayze, n.d.)

• Applications in biological research Spectroscopy in
itself has shown to be of tremendous importance in the
field of biological research. Infrared spectrsocopy is
an outstanding technique for biological analyses. It en-
ables the non-perturbative, label-free extraction of bio-
chemical information and the necessary images toward
detecting and diagnosing the functionality of the cell. It
can be used in various fields of biological research and
analyses.
FIG. 12 Transmission-type micro-spectrum from a human breast
carcinoma, where ν = stretching vibrations, δ = bending vibrations, s
= symmetric vibrations, as = asymmetric vibrations © (Baker, 2014)
• Spectroscopy for Natural Fibres: FTIR has applica-
tions in analysing the hydrogen-bonds, determination of
the chemical composition and the molecular structures,
and the morphology characterisation for natural fibres.
(Huang, 2012)

– Identification and typing of bacterial colonies.

Also, FT-IR provides data which can be treated
such that classifications are similar and/or com-
plementary to conventional classification schemes
(Naumann, 1991)

– Ex-vivo studying of blood protein adsorption at

the molecular level (Gendreau, 1981)

– Nuclear magnetic resonance and X-Ray crystal-

lography may not always be able to provide high
resolution images of proteins. FT-IR spectroscopy
can throw light into the complete secondary struc-
ture of proteins. All this can be done despite the
technique’s inability to establish the exact spatial
location of individual structural elements in three
dimensions.(Chapman, 1993)

– Combining FT-IR spectroscopy with microscopy
(microspectroscopy) enables the examination of
heterogeneous samples, such as complex tissues
for histopathological analysis. (Baker, 2014)
FIG. 13 Changes in the Fourier transformed IR spectra with rota-
tion of infrared polariser to the tracheid cell-axis due to the C-O-C
stretching mode: the primary (P) and the mature (P + S1 + S2 + S3)
© (Huang, 2012)

– As an imaging tool, identification of malignant tu- • Applications of Fourier transform-infrared spec-

mors and its distinction from the benign ones has
been made possible in breast tissue samples, and
also in the samples of lungs, colon, prostate tis-
sues. (Baker, 2014)
– With ATR-FTIR imaging, diffraction-limited res-
olution has been found to be advantageous in cell
and tissue imaging as it enables the examination of
live cells in aqueous environment. (Chan, 2013)
troscopy to edible oils: The application of FT-IR spec-
troscopy extend to areas of food research, for example,
in determination of extra virgin olive oil adulteration
with lower priced vegetable oils, and in monitoring the
possible oxidation that corn oil sample often undergo
at high temperatures or when exposed to UV radiation.
(Tegou, 2006)
• Atmospheric Monitoring: The concentrations of

trace gases in the atmosphere can be monitored with
the help of FT-IR spectroscopy in two different ways:
– Extractive monitoring - Drawing the atmosphere
in the region of interest into a long-path gas cell
– Open-path monitoring - Measuring the spectrum
of the atmosphere in situ.
V. CONCLUSION
After an intensive study, I believe it can be rightly said that
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, despite a few
limitations, has proved to be a tremendous success with appli-
cations in numerous fields of research, ranging from organic
and inorganic chemistry, material sciences, textile industries
to biological and pharmaceutical research, forensic analysis,
food research and analysis, geological sciences and astron-
omy7 , to mention a few. It was indeed a revolutionary devel-
opment in experimental science and technology.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to offer my special thanks of gratitude to my
Lab instructor at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of
Science, Dr. Mintu Mondal for giving us such an opportunity
to learn about such an important scientific topic. It has al-
lowed me to learn so much not only about a widely used spec-
troscopy technique, but also about the Fourier transformation
algorithm, which is believed to be one of the most important
algorithms in the history of mathematics. It has been an im-
mense pleasure doing an intensive research for about a month
on a topic that is so important in the field of experimental re-
search, especially in the field of Biological sciences, which
I shall be pursuing as my major in the future. Special thanks
also to Dr. Ayan Datta, our Chemistry instructor at IACS, who
introduced to us the concept of infrared spectroscopy, in his
course CHS1201. I would also like to thank Stanford Univer-
sity and Professor Andrew Ng of the same university, because
of whom I was able to learn and access the licensed copy of
MATLAB for implementing the code for plotting the spec-
trum by Fourier transformation of a sample interferogram. I
gratefully acknowledge the support given by my friends and
batchmates. I would like to extend my sincere thanks also to
the various educators on YouTube, who made the most diffi-
cult concepts easy and simple to grasp by their unique meth-
ods of teaching.
Lastly, I must also thank my parents for staying by my side
throughout my endeavours.
7 Astronomical objects, such as nebulae or galaxies present complex spectro-
scopic features which produce various types of interferograms. (Mandar,
2011)
11
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