Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques
Open Access

The study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation as a function of the radiation's wavelength or frequency is known as spectroscopy. In simpler terms, spectroscopy is the precise study of colour as it applies to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, including visible light. Indeed, spectroscopy began as a study of the wavelength dependence of visible light dispersed by a prism absorption by gas phase materials. Matter waves and acoustic waves are both types of radioactive energy, and gravitational waves have recently been linked to a spectral signature as part of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Spectroscopy, particularly in the electromagnetic spectrum, is a fundamental exploratory tool in the fields of physics, chemistry, and astronomy, allowing researchers to investigate the composition, physical structure, and electronic structure of matter at the atomic, molecular, and macro scales, as well as over vast distances. Biomedical spectroscopy in the areas of tissue analysis and medical imaging are important applications.

Spectroscopy is a field of science that studies the spectra of electromagnetic radiation as a function of wavelength or frequency using spectrographic equipment and other techniques to learn about the structure and properties of materials. Spectrometers, spectrophotometers, spectrographs, and spectral analyzers are all terms for spectrum measurement instruments. In the laboratory, most spectroscopic analysis begins with a sample to be studied, followed by the selection of a light source from any desired range of the light spectrum, and finally the light passing through the material to a dispersion array and being caught by a photodiode. The light dispersion device must be installed on the telescope for astronomical applications. This simple configuration can be used in a number of different ways.

Optics was the name given to the science of spectroscopy when Isaac Newton split light with a prism. As a result, it was originally the study of visible light, which we call colour, that eventually expanded to embrace the entire electromagnetic spectrum thanks to James Clerk Maxwell's research. Although colour is used in spectroscopy, it is not the same as the colour of elements or objects, which is determined by the absorption and reflection of certain electromagnetic waves. Rather, spectroscopy is the process of splitting light with a prism, diffraction grating, or other device to produce a discrete line pattern called a "spectrum" that is unique to each type of element.

Most elements are first put into a gaseous phase to investigate their spectra, while additional methods can now be employed on other phases. Depending on whether the element is being cooled or heated, each element diffracted by a prism-like apparatus shows either an absorption spectrum or an emission spectrum.

Until recently, all spectroscopy involved the analysis of line spectra, and this is still the case for the majority of spectroscopy. The branch of spectroscopy that analyses spectra called vibrational spectroscopy. However, recent advances in spectroscopy have made the dispersion technique obsolete in some cases. Absorption and light scattering techniques are used in biochemical spectroscopy to acquire information about biological tissue. Light scattering spectroscopy is a type of reflectance spectroscopy that uses elastic scattering to determine tissue architecture. The tissue, in this situation, works as a diffraction or dispersion mechanism.