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Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Researchers have built a new tool to study molecules using a laser, a crystal and light detectors. This new technology will reveal the structures of molecules with increased detail and specificity.

"We live in the molecular world where most things around us are made of molecules: air, foods, drinks, clothes, cells and more. Studying molecules with our new technique could be used in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, or other fields," said Associate Professor Takuro Ideguchi from the University of Tokyo Institute for Photon Science and Technology.

The new technique combines two current technologies into a unique system called complementary vibrational spectroscopy. All molecules have very small, distinctive vibrations caused by the movement of the atoms' nuclei. Tools called spectrometers detect how those vibrations cause molecules to absorb or scatter light waves. Current spectroscopy techniques are limited by the type of light that they can measure.

The new complementary vibrational spectrometer designed by researchers in Japan can measure a wider spectrum of light, combining the more limited spectra of two other tools, called infrared absorption and Raman scattering spectrometers. Combining the two spectroscopy techniques gives researchers different and complementary information about molecular vibrations.

"We questioned the 'common sense' of this field and developed something new. Raman and infrared spectra can now be measured simultaneously," said Ideguchi.

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