Spectroscopy Using an Optical Microscope

A hyphenated instrument is one that blends the capabilities of two different technologies to form a new analytical technique with novel abilities. The microscope spectrophotometer is one such hyphenated instrument; it is a hybrid that combines the magnifying power of an optical microscope with analytical proficiencies of a UV-visible-NIR range spectrophotometer. As such, microscope spectrophotometers can be used to measure the molecular spectra of microscopic sample areas from the deep ultraviolet to the near infrared region. They can be configured for many different types of spectroscopy and, as such, are used to measure absorbance, reflectance, and even emission spectra, such as fluorescence and photoluminescence, of micron-sized samples. With the addition of specialized algorithms, the microscope spectrophotometer can also be used to measure the thickness of thin films or act as a colorimeter for microscopic samples.