Raman Imaging of Emulsion Systems

The use of Raman microscopy in imaging two emulsion systems is described. Registered optical microscopy and Raman images are collected, the latter describing the chemical basis of the heterogeneity observed in the former. These examples act as a powerful demonstration of the application of the Raman microscopy technique to the analysis and understanding of microstructure in commercial products. The results indicate how the principles of Raman imaging can be applied to complex, multicomponent, multiphase systems of inherently low contrast. Such systems are of importance because they represent a wide variety of commercial product systems, ranging from pharmaceutical creams through skin creams and toothpastes. The use of a software environment for the organization, storage, management, interrogation, and manipulation of multidimensional spectral imaging data is also described. The important factors to be considered in determining the full information content of such data sets are established, and suggestions as to how such data sets can be optimally interrogated are made.