Refractively Scanned Interferometers for Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry

Abstract

The advantages of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) over dispersive spectroscopy are by now quite well known. These include high signal throughout, even when operating at high resolution, much greater data gathering speed, inherent line shape and wavenumber accuracy, and the digital nature of the data, which facilitates multiscan averaging, data storage, and spectral manipulation. However, despite their many advantages, FT-IR instruments have not dominated the IR market, and, in fact, accounted for only about 10% of the IR spectrometers sold in 1978. This is a direct result of the one disadvantage of FTIR ... high cost.