https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01577-8
Regular Article
Development and evaluation of a simple Raman spectral searching algorithm
1
Raman Spectroscopy Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, S-12, Krijgslaan 281, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
2
Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician”, University of Bologna, Ravenna Campus, Via Guaccimanni 42, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
3
Archaeometry Research Group, Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
Received:
10
November
2020
Accepted:
17
May
2021
Published online:
2
June
2021
Raman spectroscopy has grown to a frequently applied technique in the analysis of art and archaeological objects. The growth in applications is further driven by the development of new, small and compact spectrometers that are well suited for in situ analysis. Different spectral databases have been composed, to allow fast identification of the materials at hand. However, the automated identification of the highly similar spectra of contemporary synthetic organic pigments is not straightforward, as spectral libraries that contain several hundreds of spectra are typically recorded on benchtop spectrometers that have different spectral resolutions and sensitivities and often use different excitation laser wavelengths. Therefore, here a simple automated spectral searching algorithm is proposed that is based on the comparison of a series of Raman band positions, to identify the materials. Thus, many of these interferences can be avoided. In this work, the proposed algorithm is tested on spectra that were recorded by using portable Raman instruments on mock-up samples as well as during the in situ analysis of street art.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
