📋 Tender Overview
Fourier transform infrared FTIR spectroscopy is a powerful technique in analytical chemistry. Typically spatially distributed spectra of the substance of interest are registered simultaneously using FTIR spectrometers equipped with array detectors. Scanning methods such as near-field FTIR spectroscopy are a promising alternative providing higher spatial resolution. However serial recording severely limits their application due to the long acquisition times involved and the resulting stability issues.In order to speed up such measurements a novel mathematical technique of low-rank matrix reconstruction of a compressed FTIR measurement has been developed. With this method the measurement time of the scanning methods is significantly reduced. To demonstrate the method data from a pilot study of biological samples Leishmania strain protozoes have been analyzed by randomly selecting only 5 of the interferometry data. The results obtained for bioanalytical fingerprinting using the proposed approach have been shown to be essentially the same as those obtained from the full set of data. This finding can significantly foster the practical applicability of high-resolution serial scanning techniques in analytical chemistry and it is also expected to improve other applications of FTIR spectroscopy and spectromicroscopy. An open source Python library enables the method to be used easily.
