Specific programme: ATTRACT Open Call 2017 (Open call of the ATTRACT Infrastructures project)
UPV/EHU Partner Status: Beneficiary
UPV/EHU PI: Juan Manuel Madariaga
Project start: 01/04/2019
Project end: 31/03/2020

Brief description: The project will design and provide the innovative CORaHE (COld Raman Head) sensor for Deep-UV Raman spectroscopy, to operate under cold environments between -30 and -5 oC, performing non- destructive micro-Raman measurements on a portable device, discarding the need of cryostages and allowing direct microscopic measuring of the original cold samples without any limitation in size.Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational technique that is used to identify chemical compounds (one or several present in the same sample) in different matrix and at different temperatures and humidities. Deep-UV Raman spectroscopy has been selected because it is the only excitation wavelength that avoids the fluorescence background irrespective of the nature of the cold samples to be measured. Deep-UV lasers do not destroy the cold samples because the thermal heating is minimized to a minimum while maintaining the Raman scattering of molecules. Microscopic measurements have been selected to analyse the bubbles and inclusions in the surfaces of the cold samples due to their micrometric size. The selection of the areas of interest will be performed through a visible camera. The focus of the spots of interest will be achieved through software controlled motorised X-Y-Z steps of high lateral resolution. The bulk and microscopic spots will be measured by a simple change of the objectives in the rotating head. The head will be set in front of the cold (-30 and 5 oC) samples, irrespective of their size, avoiding the current use of cutting samples to the required size to be placed in cryostages. The new CORaHE sensor will measure cold samples without destroying any part of them.