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| this is why the S/N ratio is important! (image is from here) |
Good research constitutes three factors: (i) high quality
of the data; (ii) effective presentation (including writing); and (iii)
importance in the research context in the field. Data quality is the one you can
easily enhance if you know how. It is sad to see low-quality data drag down
your research quality.
All spectroscopy, including FT-IR, absorption, FL, even
XRD, can improve the data quality of a signal-to-noise ratio based on the same
principal, which is the topic of this post. One of the factors for such results
is the smoothness of the spectrum, so I focus on telling how to obtain a smooth
spectra (aka high S/N ratio)
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| This is what I mean by "good quality of data" image is from here |
(1)
The
longer exposure time, the better S/N ratio
The golden rule: If your S/N ratio is enhanced by the square
root time you spend, i.e., if you spend four times longer, you will have a two times
better S/N ratio. If you spend 100 times longer, you will have 10 times better
S/N ratio.
(2)
You may
compromise the data point
In reality, you may not want to spend 100 times longer for
a measurement than usual. For many spectroscopic measurements, you may
compromise the data point. For example, you may not need 0.01 nm resolution in
gold nanocrystal absorption. In that case, it would be a nice call if you
change the measurement setting to 1 nm resolution and spend 100 times longer
for each point.
(3)
Why not
use the measurement multiple times?
Via the same principal, if you overlap multiple
measurements, you will have a similar effect to enhance the S/N ratio. For some
instruments, you may not be allowed to expose a signal to a detector for such a
long time. In that case, this strategy is useful.
Good luck on your smooth operation!
