Overview of infrared spectroscopy: Hardware, chemometrics and software

Techniques and methods based on vibrational spectroscopy such as near infrared reflectance (NIR) and mid infrared (MIR) are known for their intrinsic characteristics such as non-destructive and low cost. These characteristics are considered the most important when these methods or techniques are applied in different fields from the analysis of food, medicine, biotechnology, wood among others applications. This chapter will provide with an overview on the most commonly vibrational spectroscopy techniques (NIR, MIR), general information about the hardware (instruments) and software (multivariate data methods) commonly used in different applications.