Bandpass filter – a lens that lets only light from specified spectral region pass through it.

It
is used in variety of spectroscopic techniques where particular range in nm is required. The
range can vary from few nm to tens and hundreds depending what material is the filter
made out of. Novel bandpass filters can be tuned to different spectral regions by changing
the angle at which the incident light is shone.

Notch filter – used to block certain narrow range of wavelengths. Particularly used in Raman
Spectroscopy where its application allows to observe Stokes and Anti-Stokes scattered light
but block laser light.

Interferometer – an essential part of FTIR which splits the beam of light into two so that the
paths of two beams are different, recombines them and the difference in intensity is
measured as a function of the difference of the pathlengths (Figure 1). It allows for Fourier
Transform to be applied to IR spectroscopy.

Figure 1. Michelson interferometer. Right – schematic depiction1. Incident beam is split by half-silvered mirror.
After reflection in the mirrors outside two beams are recombined at the same half-silvered mirror and are
reflected towards detector. Left – real-life assembly2.

Short video showing how interferometer works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA1qG7Fjc2A

1
CC BY-SA 3.0 licence. Original can be found at:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Interferometer.svg/1920px-Interferometer.svg.png
2CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Original can be found at:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Michelson_interferometer.png/1280px-
Michelson_interferometer.png