Efficient procedure for the measurement of preresonant excitation profiles in UV Raman spectroscopy

Resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) is a promising technique for investigating samples with low concentrations of single constituents or many different constituents. The wavelength dependent resonance enhancement (resonance profile) of the respective molecule yields information about the targeted species and reveals the optimal wavelength for high resolution RRS. A significant increase of the Raman scattered intensity can already be achieved in the vicinity of the molecules' absorption band (preresonance). Measuring such preresonance and resonance profiles requires precise control of excitation conditions and careful assessment of the spectral accuracy of the setup. We present a comprehensive procedure for the acquisition of preresonance profiles in Raman spectroscopy. An experimental setup for recording the single spectra is combined with an efficient algorithm for data postprocessing. The procedure is demonstrated on amino acids measured in the UV and can be applied to any molecule and wavelength range. © 2017 Author(s)