Infrared (IR) Micro-Spectroscopy is a quantitative analytical and non-destructive technique which has undergone a renaissance since synchrotrons have been used as a highly brilliant source.

Synchrotron IR radiation spans a larger spectral range – extending to the far-IR (or THz) region - and can be 100-1000 times brighter in the mid-far IR than any other broadband IR source. In addition, SR has a pulse structure enabling ultrafast time resolved studies, and benefits from a high degree of optical polarization.

Fourier Transform IR (FTIR) interferometers have proven extremely effective in research for revealing IR-active vibrational modes of molecular components at the microscopic scale. Using the high brightness benefits of a synchrotron provides FTIR spectromicroscopy with a signal-to-noise ratio unreachable by other broadband sources at diffraction limited spatial resolution in confocal geometry (as fine as 3 to 10 µm in the mid-IR range).