FT-IR stands for Fourier Transform Infrared, and an FT-IR spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to analyze the infrared (IR) spectrum of a sample. Infrared spectroscopy is a technique that involves the interaction of infrared radiation with matter to study its molecular composition.
The FT-IR spectrometer operates based on the principle of Fourier transform, which is a mathematical technique used to convert a signal in the time domain into its frequency components. In the context of FT-IR, this means that the instrument measures the interferogram, a signal that represents the intensity of infrared light as a function of time. The Fourier transform is then applied to this interferogram to obtain the infrared spectrum of the sample.