# Infrared Spectroscopy-Quo Vadis?
## 4 Infrared Spectroscopy: The Future
Apart from increasing demands in global health care applications, recent great trends in human society are associated with climate change, micro plastics, environmental health, food production, sustainability, city growth, energy science as well as space exploration. For each of these great topics, IR spectroscopic tools provide valuable opportunities. The detection of micro-plastics in marine samples has recently been shown via MIR- based tools [106]. Furthermore, oil spills have been detected via FTIR based technologies, potentially matching or even outperforming commonly deployed GC based techniques in the future [94; 107; 108]. Additionally, airborne infrared imaging has become interesting for precision farming as well as for the analysis of soil quality. Regarding soil quality, infrared-based tools have also found their way into space research. The US NASA mars rovers have been readily equipped with infrared spectrometers for spectral analysis of soil with the aim to find, traces of water [2]. Space exploration on probes such as orbiters is also a growing application for infrared-based technologies apart from stationary observatories that are screening the sky for infrared signatures of, organic components in the search for extra-terrestrial life ([[https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/](https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/)]([https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/](https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/)), 17 November 2021). Utilizing IR radiation in the MIR in combination with a vector coronagraph enables discovery of exoplanets that are otherwise outshined by their main star [109; 110; 111; 112]. With the recent entry of privately financed space travel and exploration, IR spectroscopy is certainly among the key technologies for exploration and safety measures among space travel. The development in unmanned aerial vehicles on earth combined with the opportunity for environmental monitoring also provides future opportunities. The trade-off between the unmanned aerial vehicle demands and the IR sensor technology has yet to be further optimized [113]. All of these applications require bright and highly controllable light sources. For this purpose, QCLs and ICLs provide excellent technologies. A major drawback of QCL technology are the high currents that are required for operation. Heat dissipation as well as resistive losses commonly lead to a lower limit of miniaturization of the auxiliary electronics, although the QCL die can be downsized to a few \(\upmu\)m in size. The development of high-performing alloys that provide conductivity beyond copper, ideally realizing room-temperature super conductance, would enable an unprecedented level of design freedom and the emission power of such lasers. Apart from application in more regular spectroscopy tasks, such laser light sources enable elevated acquisition speeds that are allowing single shot experiments [114; 115; 116]. In particular, frequency combs are promising candidates that allow high-power super continuum spectrum generation with precise control of the spectral characteristics [117]. These sources are ideal candidates for elucidating super-fast molecular transitions and thus visualizing the mechanisms of such processes to improve the understanding of them, especially in combination with further analytical techniques such as within spectro-electrochemistry [118; 119; 120; 121]. Such processes are of crucial importance for, e.g., catalysis or energy conversion in batteries or fuel cells. In particular, the degradation of electrode, separator or electrolyte materials can be investigated via MIR spectroscopy. In addition, recent trends in additive manufacturing have led to new potential applications of IR spectroscopic tools. Three-dimensional printing has matured into high quality levels enabling the straightforward fabrication of optical quality structures such as waveguides [122; 31]. Hence, low-cost, disposable IR analyzer tools are coming online within the next couple of years, similar to recent developments in electrochemical sensors.