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FTIR Resolution (cm^-1 to nm)

  • February 24, 2022
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designerguy13-photonics
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HI community!

Actually i was going through the THOR Lab manual for FTIR spectroscopy and got stuck at understanding the  relationship between resolution expressed in wavenumbers (R cm^1-) and in nanometer (R(nm). In the Table-2 (link given below) of that manual, can someone explains the conversion formulae used for calculation ?            

         FTIR document reference

Best answer by Sven.Stöttinger

Hi,

your link does not seem to work properly, it only directs back to this thread. But I might have an idea what your question is leading to.

Generally using wavelength in nm is somewhat impractical if you want to express a Δenergy-value, since the same Δ-wavelength value in nm relates to a different ΔE in dependence if you for example are looking at the same Δnm value at 300 nm or at 800nm. This is why the wavenumber (cm^-1) or eV as Δenergy units are more commonly used in spectroscopy.

Just an example: at 500 nm a Δ50nm difference corresponds to a ΔE of roughly 225 meV or 1818 cm^-1,
at 900 nm however the same Δ50nm difference now correpsonds to a ΔE of roughly 72.5 meV or 585 cm^-1.
 

Here is a link to a online calculator where you can put in wavelength and wavelength-difference to get the energy value calculated (sorry it is in german, but looking at the units should help :) ):

https://optikexpertisen.de/interaktiv/spektralkonverter

 

Hope this helps,

Sven

 

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2 replies

Sven.Stöttinger
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Hi,

your link does not seem to work properly, it only directs back to this thread. But I might have an idea what your question is leading to.

Generally using wavelength in nm is somewhat impractical if you want to express a Δenergy-value, since the same Δ-wavelength value in nm relates to a different ΔE in dependence if you for example are looking at the same Δnm value at 300 nm or at 800nm. This is why the wavenumber (cm^-1) or eV as Δenergy units are more commonly used in spectroscopy.

Just an example: at 500 nm a Δ50nm difference corresponds to a ΔE of roughly 225 meV or 1818 cm^-1,
at 900 nm however the same Δ50nm difference now correpsonds to a ΔE of roughly 72.5 meV or 585 cm^-1.
 

Here is a link to a online calculator where you can put in wavelength and wavelength-difference to get the energy value calculated (sorry it is in german, but looking at the units should help :) ):

https://optikexpertisen.de/interaktiv/spektralkonverter

 

Hope this helps,

Sven

 


designerguy13-photonics
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Thanks @Sven.Stöttinger , it was helpful. Though i had figured this thing, onlyconfusion was regarding resolution in terms of wavenumber (delta_nu_prime) and resolution in terms of wavelength (delta_lambda). 

The following relation along with your explanation well explains this artifact :

delta_lanmbda = (delta_nu_prime / nu_prime) * lambda

So, let’s say for resoluting a wavelength of 200 nm with resolution of 1cm^-1, 

delta_lambda = (200 nm /50000 cm^-1) * 1 cm^-1 = 0.004 nm


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