Abstract

Raman polarization data, which are obtainable on gas, liquid, and oriented single crystal samples, provide a powerful tool in the study of molecular vibrations and molecular symmetry. However, this type of data has been unobtainable for finely divided solids because reflection and refraction at the solid surfaces leads to depolarization of the incident and Raman scattered light. In principle, it should be possible to eliminate this depolarization by immersing the solid in a medium of identical index of refraction. To our knowledge this technique has never been applied to obtain polarization data but it has been employed to increase the efficiency of Raman scattering. Also, immersion of finely divided solids in a medium of similar index of refraction has been used to reduce light scattering in absoption spectroscopy experiments. In this note, attention will be confined to Raman scattering from amorphous solids, silica gel, and an ion exchange resin.

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