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Practical Infrared Microspectroscopy -- FTIR (1422)

“Really great explanations. The mix of PowerPoint slides, drawings, analogies, and demos really explained things well.” — Shay S.
“I learned so much this week and have no doubt this will improve my performance at work.” — Danielle S.
“I am more confident in obtaining and interpreting spectra.” — Kristen M.

COURSE OUTLINE & SYLLABUS

Course schedule: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Friday

Emphasis is placed on maximizing instrument performance through the use of the most appropriate methods (e.g. ATR, reflection/absorption, transmission) and by novel sample preparation techniques.

An entire day is devoted to sample preparation techniques which provide increased detection limit and minimize the problem of interferences. Lecture and exercise topics include: instrument hardware, spectral interpretation, sample preparation, searching IR spectra databases and integrating FTIR microspectroscopy with data from other methods (e.g. polarized light microscopy, micro-crystal tests).

The enrollment in each class is kept small to ensure a high instructor to student ratio.

There is no prerequisite for this class.

Day 1
Introduction to infrared radiation; Infrared microspectroscopy hardware: Transmission FTIR, Reflection/absorption (ARO) FTIR, Attenuated total reflection (ATR) FTIR; Basic software techniques

Day 2
Theory of infrared spectroscopy; Introduction to spectral interpretation; Advanced software techniques; Introduction to polarized light microscopy (PLM) part 1: homogeneous samples

Day 3
Introduction to polarized light microscopy (PLM) part 2: heterogeneous samples; Introduction to particle handling; Using tungsten needles; Basic FTIR preparation techniques; Micropipettes and their uses

Day 4
Advanced FTIR preparation techniques; Unknown sample analysis using both PLM and infrared microspectroscopy

Day 5
Introduction to microchemical methods; Case examples combining PLM and FTIR Analysis