Design and implementation of an experimental Raman spectrometer

Non-invasive medical diagnosis has become popular due to the possibility of detecting illnesses in vivo and in real time this technique, often referred to as optical biopsy it comprises several optical techniques such as thermography, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography and Raman spectroscopy among others. Particularly Raman spectroscopy is an optical technique based on the inelastic scattering of light that can detect disease markers, this technique has been successfully used to detect several types of diseases, however the high price of a Raman spectrometer makes it difficult for the medical community to adopt its use as a common diagnostic procedure. In this work, an experimental Raman spectrometer was designed and fabricated from low-cost readily available components. The system was characterized and the Raman spectra obtained was compared to commercial systems. Results show that it is possible to fabricate an experimental Raman system with the desired optical configuration and with some improvements in the selected commercial components, it could be useful for non-invasive medical diagnosis. © 2019, Sociedad Mexicana de Fisica.

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