Laser crater enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Opt Lett. 2017 Feb 1;42(3):607-610. doi: 10.1364/OL.42.000607.

Abstract

Raman signal enhancement by multiple scattering inside laser crater cones was observed for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Laser crater enhanced Raman spectroscopy (LCERS) yielded a 14-fold increase in the Raman spectra bands due to efficient multiple scattering of laser irradiation within the laser crater walls. The same pulsed Nd:YAG laser (532 nm, 10 ns) was used for both laser crater formation and Raman scattering experiments by varying the output pulse energy. First, powerful pulses are used to produce the laser crater; then low-energy pulses are used to perform Raman scattering measurements. The laser crater profile and its alignment with the laser beam waist were found to be the key parameters for the optimization of the Raman spectrum intensity enhancement. Raman intensity enhancement resulted from increased surface scattering area at the crater walls, rather than spatially offset Raman scattering. The increased signal-to-noise ratio resulted in limits of detection improvement for quantitative analysis using LCERS.