Near-infrared spectroscopy (also referred to as near-IR spectroscopy or NIRS) is a spectroscopic technique that focuses its attention on the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum - 780 to 2500 nm.
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Near-IR spectroscopy belongs to the group of vibrational spectroscopy techniques, along with mid-infrared spectroscopy (primarily FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy.
The first near-IR spectrometers were developed in the 1980s, initially being designed for industrial applications and chemical analysis. There are two primary forms of NIR analyzers: dispersive NIR (scanning) and Fourier Transform based (FT-NIR) spectrometers.
Dispersive spectrometers fitted with a monochromator and holographic grating offer a number of key advantages.