The Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Labs are equipped with a very diverse suite of spectroscopic and scattering instruments to determine material chemical composition, structure, surface area and grain size of both synthetic and natural samples. For instance,

• Our powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) consists of two individual instruments capable of X-ray scattering analysis using both Cu (λ=1.54 Å) and Ag radiation (λ=0.56 Å) in transmission geometry. XRD can be used to analyze …

The Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) provides spectral measurements from VIS to FIR for comparison with remote sensing spacecraft/telescopic measurements of extraterrestrial surfaces. Reflection, transmission and emission spectroscopy are used to acquire spectral data of target materials.
An FT-IR microscope allows microscopic analysis in transmission and reflectance in the VIS+VNIR+MIR spectral range. Three identical Bruker Vertex 80V FTIR instruments are operating (in vacuum) at …