IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

Absorption Spectroscopy

9th August, 2021 Science and Technology

In News

  • Researchers from IIT Madras and IISER Kolkata have developed a method to detect minute quantities of chemicals in solution.
  • They use a variation of absorption spectroscopy that surpasses the systemic limits imposed by conventional absorption spectroscopy.
  • With this technique, they can, in principle, illuminate the insides of cells and detect minuscule quantities of substances present there.

 

About

  • Absorption spectroscopy is a tool to detect the presence of elements in a medium. Light is shone on the sample, and after it passes through the sample is examined using a spectroscope.
  • Usually in absorption spectroscopy, the principle used is that light because of its wavelike nature, shows diffraction patterns, that is, dark and light fringes, when it scatters off any object.
  • A related concept called the Abbe criterion sets a natural limit on the size of the object being studied.

 

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/new-technique-to-study-ultrasmall-particles-in-cells/article35788908.ece