Older Technology
The original infrared instruments were of the dispersivetype. These instruments separated the individual frequencies of energy emitted from the infrared source. This was accomplished by the use of a prism or grating. An infrared prism works exactly the same as a visible prism which separates visible light into its colors (frequencies). A grating is a more modern dispersive element which better separates the frequencies of infrared energy. The detector measures the amount of energy at each frequency which has passed through the sample. This results in a spectrumwhich is a plot of intensity vs. frequency.