Session: Analytical Division Student Poster Session: Celebrating the Research of Minority Undergraduate and Graduate Students:

Design and performance of a custom-built reaction chamber combined with an acoustic levitator, a tunable monochromatic light source and an imaging Raman spectrometer are reported. The pressure-compatible reaction chamber was vacuum tested and coupled with the acoustic levitator that allows contactless sample handling, free of contingent sample requirements such as charge and refractive index. Calibration and performance of the imaging Raman spectrometer was performed utilizing gated detection and three different gratings that can be interchanged within seconds for desired resolution and photon collection range. A complete range of 0-5000 cm^-1 Raman shift, with a small uncertainty of ± 2 cm^-1, can be recorded covering whole vibrational range in chemical reaction monitoring. The gating of the detector allowed operation under the room light and filtration of unwanted sample fluorescence. The in-situ reaction perturbation and monitoring of physical and chemical changes of samples by the Raman system was demonstrated by degradation of polystyrene with monochromatic UV light excitation. This instrument provides a versatile platform for in situ investigation of reactions, without external support structures and under controlled pressure and radiation conditions, relevant to various disciplines such as materials science, astrochemistry and molecular biology.

Daniel Dickerson

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