RAMAN TECHNOLOGY FOR FUTURE PLANETARY MISSIONS

Scientific experiments on mineral and biological samples with Raman excitation below 300nm show a wealth of scientific information. The flu orescence, which typically decreases signal quality in the visual or near infrared wavelength re gime can be avoi ded with deep ultraviolet excitation. This wavelength regime is therefore regarded as highly attractive for a com pact high performance Raman spectrometer for in-situ planetary research. Main objective of the MIRAS II breadboard act ivity presented here (MIRAS: Mineral Investigation with Raman Spectroscopy) is to evaluate, design and build a com pact fiber coupled deep-UV Raman sy stem breadboard. Ad ditionally, t he R aman system is combined wi th an innovative sca nning microscope system to allow effective auto-focusing and autonomous orientation on the sample surface for high precise positioning or high resolution Raman mapping.