Microemitter-Based IR Spectroscopy and Imaging with Multilayer Graphene Thermal Emission

IR analyses such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are widely used in many fields; however, the performance of FTIR is limited by the slow speed (∼10 Hz), large footprint (∼ millimeter), and glass bulb structure of IR light sources. Herein, we present IR spectroscopy and imaging based on multilayer-graphene microemitters, which have distinct features: a planar structure, bright intensity, a small footprint (sub-μm²), and high modulation speed of >50 kHz. We developed an IR analysis system based on the multilayer-graphene microemitter and performed IR absorption spectroscopy. We show two-dimensional IR chemical imaging that visualizes the distribution of the chemical information. In addition, we present high-spatial-resolution IR imaging with a spatial resolution of ∼1 μm, far higher than the diffraction limit. The graphene-based IR spectroscopy and imaging can open new routes for IR applications in chemistry, material science, medicine, biology, electronics, and physics.