The Micro-Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory (Sections 3.1 and 3.2) uses a Horiba Jobin Yvon LabRAM HR Evolution Raman spectrometer equipped with a motor-driven x-y table and an Olympus optical microscope. Depending on the experiment two different laser light sources can be used for investigations on gas hydrates: a Nd:YAG laser providing a 532 nm line and 785 nm wavelength-stabilized laser diode. The confocal technique provides an efficient way to obtain interference-free Raman spectra of …

The microscopy lab comprises facilities for infrared microthermometric equipment for fluid inclusion research and reflected-light microscopy for organic petrography.
The microthermometry lab focusses on microthermometric studies of fluid inclusions in minerals, analyses of molecular compositions of gas-bearing fluid inclusions and reconstruction of P-T-x condition during mineral precipitation. Techniques being used are microthermometry, transmitted light microscopy (visible and near infrared …

The laboratory is equipped with two confocal high-resolution Raman spectrometer systems to study fluid and solid samples (from single point analyses and line scans to two- and three-dimensional Raman imaging) at ambient pressure and temperature and over a wide range of P-T conditions.
Available sample environments are three Linkam heating/cooling stages and two hydrothermal diamond-anvil cells.

The core of the laboratory is a Raman micro-spectrometer. The spectrometer is equipped with a cryostat serving as a planetary simulation chamber which permits simulation of environmental conditions on planetary surfaces, namely pressure (10⁻⁶ hPa – 1000 hPa), atmospheric constituents, and temperature (4 K – 500 K). The laboratory is also equipped with preparation facilities for analog materials. The samples which are analyzed in the laboratory range from minerals, Martian analog material, …