American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 37th Annual Conference
October 14 - October 18, 2019
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA

Abstract View


Effects of Fluorescence Removal on the Raman Spectra of Single Atmospheric Aerosol Particles

DAVID DOUGHTY, Steven Hill, CCDC Army Research Laboratory

     Abstract Number: 688
     Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods

Abstract
Raman spectroscopy can be used to provide information on the chemical composition of individual aerosol particles. Fluorescence can interfere with analysis of Raman spectra, and in some cases can completely obscure the Raman signal. Estimating and removing fluorescence from Raman spectra is a commonly used analysis technique. We show that for spectra with D/G Raman peaks, the individual-particle fluorescence spectra can vary greatly. These variations suggest differing fluorescent materials associated with different particles. We also illustrate the effects of different fluorescence removal algorithms on the peak locations of the D and G bands. The use of both fluorescence and Raman spectra may be especially helpful in individual particle analysis, where the particles are small (e.g., 200 nm) and the goals include measuring sufficient number of spectra to obtain time variations and useful statistics for ambient particles. That is, analysis of both fluorescence and Raman spectra may help in identifying more types of atmospheric particles.