Blog

Can you believe Map of the Month is 2 years old? Neither can we! To celebrate we asked some of the team to look back and pick their favourite map so far …

The forgery of documents is a common problem for the police, customs officials, and historians, and they are very difficult to detect by eye. Here we show how photoluminescence spectroscopy can be used to detect an ink forgery without damaging the sample.

Nasal relief sprays reduce the symptoms of hay fever and colds. Read this Map of the Month blog to find out how they do this, and how Raman mapping can be used to track the distribution of the active pharmaceutical ingredient.

Despite being a major cause of seasonal allergies, the distribution of microscopic pollen particles is crucial for biodiversity. Read our latest Map of the Month blog to find out how Raman spectroscopy can be used to study pollen grains and aid researchers in species identification.

Emulsions are phase-separated liquid in liquid mixtures that are found naturally in different foods and are often used in the formulation of cosmetics and medicines. Confocal Raman microscopy is an excellent technique for providing 3-dimensional chemical images of emulsions, and it can inform manufacturers about the morphology and distribution of liquid particles in their products. Read our latest Map of

Solar cells based on perovskites are extremely promising as a renewable energy source, but the presence of defects can limit their power conversion efficiency. In May’s Map of the Month, we performed photoluminescence mapping of a perovskite thin film to confirm the presence and characterise the reduced optical performance of a defect structure.

In April’s Map of the Month, in recognition of our affiliation with Edinburgh Rugby, we performed Raman Surface Mapping on the club’s 150th-anniversary badge.

In this Map of the Month, we highlight our recent Application Note, in which the RMS1000 was used in multiple microscopic and spectroscopic imaging modes to investigate the structural and optical properties of a crystal of WSe2.

Is this our strongest Map of the Month yet? Graphene is one of the strongest materials known to man, and Raman mapping is a fantastic analysis tool for investigating any defects that might destroy this strength.