High Raman Scatterers

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Potassium Bichromate

Artificial crystals of potassium bichromate. The Raman spectrum above has been recorded with a slit width of 20 µ to increase the resolution. This is possible because bichromate is a strong Raman scatterer at least with the He-Ne laser in the red. The good resolution can be seen in the multiplet around 900 cm-1.
 
Crocoite
Small polished crystal of Crocoite. The mineral Crocoite is certainly a "star" of the Raman mineral scatterers with red light. For shorter wavelength, the absorption of light should be much higher.

Even if the Laser line blocking filter is removed, it is still possible to see the Raman spectrum. The exposure time necessary to get an image on the CCD is so small that a continuously running spectrum can be observed on the CCD so this mineral greatly helps the alignment of the Raman microscope in particular to get the highest intensity. The final spectrum above has not been baseline corrected, it is unnecessary. The slit width is also 20µ.

 
Sulfur
Sulfur is also giving high Raman intensity. In fact the first Raman spectrum I got with the microscope described in those pages was obtained with sulfur. The intensity is high enough to obtain the Raman line around 150 cm-1. Before I discovered the Crocoite, Sulfur was my reference to adjust the instrument.

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