TY - JOUR

T1 - Iterative morphological and mollifier-based baseline correction for Raman spectra

AU - Koch, Matthias

AU - Suhr, Christian

AU - Roth, Bernhard

AU - Meinhardt-Wollweber, Merve

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the VIP-project MeDiOO (grant no. 03V0826).

PY - 2017/2/2

Y1 - 2017/2/2

N2 - In vivo Raman spectroscopy with low signal-to-noise ratio and strong, irregularly shaped fluorescence background imposes a challenge for automatic baseline correction methods. In this work, an approach that enables fast and efficient batch baseline correction has been developed, which is based on a morphological operation in combination with a mollifier algorithm. As this algorithm relies only on three parameters, which are determined by the given experimental conditions, it can be used for automatic and objective processing of many Raman spectra. The applicability of the baseline correction is demonstrated on resonance Raman spectra of beta-carotene mixed with fluorescent red ink as model system, on carotenoids in human skin, and on an excitation–emission map of the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis. In the future, the algorithm opens the potential for wide application in Raman spectra analysis in biological contexts. In particular, it greatly facilitates data processing in cases where special photochemical sample preparation or complex experimental baseline removal was required before. Similarly, processing data of experiments using resonant excitation techniques yielding strong fluorescence background is possible.

AB - In vivo Raman spectroscopy with low signal-to-noise ratio and strong, irregularly shaped fluorescence background imposes a challenge for automatic baseline correction methods. In this work, an approach that enables fast and efficient batch baseline correction has been developed, which is based on a morphological operation in combination with a mollifier algorithm. As this algorithm relies only on three parameters, which are determined by the given experimental conditions, it can be used for automatic and objective processing of many Raman spectra. The applicability of the baseline correction is demonstrated on resonance Raman spectra of beta-carotene mixed with fluorescent red ink as model system, on carotenoids in human skin, and on an excitation–emission map of the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis. In the future, the algorithm opens the potential for wide application in Raman spectra analysis in biological contexts. In particular, it greatly facilitates data processing in cases where special photochemical sample preparation or complex experimental baseline removal was required before. Similarly, processing data of experiments using resonant excitation techniques yielding strong fluorescence background is possible.

KW - baseline correction

KW - fluorescence removal

KW - in vivo

KW - mollifier

KW - morphological

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84982933544&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/1215

DO - 10.15488/1215

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84982933544

VL - 48

SP - 336

EP - 342

JO - Journal of Raman spectroscopy

JF - Journal of Raman spectroscopy

SN - 0377-0486

IS - 2

ER -