Fundamentals of Spectroscopy Training Course

This four-part short course will provide a broad overview of optical spectroscopy. No significant background in the area is assumed. We will start with a review of light-matter interactions relevant to spectroscopy, covering the underlying physics of common spectroscopic terms and ideas like “scattering”, “photoluminescence”, and even “photon”. We’ll move on to discuss how common spectroscopic techniques use these interactions to tell us more about the world around use. We’ll discuss the equipment used to carry out these measurements, and how specialized needs for different experiments have driven the creation of a wide variety of powerful tools.

Finally, we’ll look at some unusual and demanding applications that push spectroscopy to its limit: counting individual photons, seeing single molecules, probing temperatures near absolute zero, and exploring exotic states of matter.

Previous Fundamentals of Spectroscopy Lessons