Fourier transform infrared hardware

H. L. Buijs, D. J. W. Kendall, G. Vail, and J.-N. Berube, Fourier transform infrared hardware developments, in 1981 International Conference on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, H. Sakai, Ed., Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Bellingham, WA, 1981, Vol. 289, p. 322. 

Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is now one of the most popular techniques in analytical chemishy, this technology having several advantages compared to conventional dispersive infrared inshuments. Developments in instrument hardware, in computer software (usually by the instrument manufacturers) and in computing power generally has resulted in very powerful data collection and data handling systems for the analysis and characterisation of all sorts of materials including colorants. 

TGA is used to determine the loss in mass t particular temperatures, but TGA cannot identify the species responsible. To obtain this type of information, the output of a thermogravimetric analyzer is often connected to a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) or a mass spec-Irometer(MS). Several instrument companies offer devices to interface the TGA unit toa spectrometer. Some even claim true integration of the software and hardware of the TGA/MS or TGA /FTIR systems. High-Resolution TGA... 

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) had its origins in the interferometer developed by Michelson in 1880 and experiments by astrophysicists some seventy years later. A commercial FTIR instrument required development of the laser (1960, by Theodore H. Maiman [1927- ], Hughes Aircraft), refined optics, and computer hardware and software. The Fourier transform takes data collected in time domain and converts them to frequency domain, the normal infrared (IR) spectrum. FTIR provided vasdy improved signal-to-noise ratios allowing routine analyses of microgram samples. 

Previous work of one of the authors dealt with mid IR monitoring of IB polymerization using fiber-optic equipment. Fourier transform near infrared spectroscopy can be accomplished without expensive hardware. It therefore seemed to be a desirable goal to combine the advantage of fiber optics with low-cost fibers available for measurements in the NIR range. The NIR spectrum of IB obtained after solvent subtraction (Figure 2) reveals at least three signals, which should be suitable for the determination of monomer conversion. 

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