Infrared microspectroscopy using prism-based spectrographs and focal plane array detection
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Updated: May 23, 2026

High-definition Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopic Imaging of Human Tissue Sections towards Improving Pathology
Published on: January 21, 2015
Adam Lanzarotta1, Curtis Marcott, Gloria M Story
1Molecular Microspectroscopy Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA.
Abstract:
Several prism-based spectrographs employing a mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) focal plane array detector have been interfaced to an infrared microscope. In the combined system, the area-defining aperture of the microscope also served as the entrance slit to the spectrograph. This investigation considered the fundamental limits of diffraction for both the spectrograph and microscope in order to determine both the spatial and spectral resolution of the system as a whole. Experimental results for spectral resolution, spectral range, and peak-to-peak noise have been presented. Finally, the dynamic capabilities of one spectrograph/microscope combination were investigated.
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