Recommended Citation
August 1, 2012.
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to map Mars relevant minerals using the Raman instrument Horiba LabRam Raman. The Raman spectrometer is a non-invasive sampling technique used to identify mineral composition of various compositions by measuring the “Raman Shift” of each mineral. This was accomplished by using a green (532nm) laser which acted as a monochromatic light source. This source was absorbed by the sample and reemitted. The frequency of the reemitted photons are then shifted up or down in comparison with original frequency, which is referred to as the ‘Raman Effect’. The samples with shorter wavelengths produced a stronger Raman effect with easily identifiable excitation wavelength peaks. The current project focuses on refining this technique to identify minerals by examining minerals of different compositions using various magnification objectives in conjunction with various filters to simulate variation in spot size and power density put down on the sample. The results of this project have yet to be analyzed and the data for the red (632nm) laser and a UV laser (325 nm) still needs to be collected. By the end of this study, we expect to learn which monochromatic light source works best at identifying minerals of different compositions. This work is foundational to the development of the fiberless-Raman Fluorescence micro-mapping instrument.
Disciplines
Geology | Mineral Physics
Mentor
William Abbey
Lab site
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Funding Acknowledgement
This material is based upon work supported by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0952013. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation or the National Science Foundation. This project has also been made possible with support of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The STAR program is administered by the Cal Poly Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESaME) on behalf of the California State University (CSU).
Included in
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/148