By combining an optical microscope with a Raman spectrometer, scientists and researchers can generate high-resolution images of microscopic samples. The optical microscope (typically a confocal microscope) provides spatial resolution and filtering, while the spectrometer provides spectral information. For this reason, it is a superior technology of choice for the characterization of various materials and samples.

The optics enable the analysis volume within the sample to be spatially filtered with high-resolution across all axes. The spectrometer—sensitive to the vibrational modes of the sample—provides chemical, physical, and structural insights.

When these spatial filters are added to a Raman microscope, it is called a confocal Raman microscope. In confocal Raman microscopy, the resolution is so fine that individual particles as small as 1 micron or less can be analyzed. The resolution of these microscopes is also affected by the specific wavelengths of the laser and the type of objective lens used.

Raman microscopes are widely used in materials science, cell biology, and medicine and have applications in pharmaceutical development, particulate identification, chemical imaging and analysis, and molecular and polymer analysis. In addition, these devices can be used to map areas of a sample or perform depth profiling without sample preparation.

One of the reasons these microscopes are considered so helpful is that, by taking Raman spectrums at all points on an object and filtering for specific spectral bands, an image can be reconstructed from the spectral information. This ability to analyze and produce an image of an object from its Raman spectrum distinguishes Raman microscopy from Raman spectroscopy.