摘要： Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) is a type of vibrational spectroscopy that provides a means to obtain chemically specific information from below the surfaces beneath materials, up to several millimeters have been demonstrated. The chemical identification of materials represents a fundamental analytical requirement that spans the physical, biological, and medical sciences. In manufacturing, it is utilized in methods to ensure product quality (including purity), usually under governmental legislation, and in healthcare to differentiate between a healthy and diseased state. For many applications there may be a strict protocol to ensure that the sample suffers no damage and this limits the type of analysis that can be performed. Generally most spectroscopic methods fit the non-destructive criteria but all-too-often to perform an analysis there is a need to perform some preliminary sample preparation and recovery wet chemistry and this may not be advisable, particularly when the environment the sample is in is difficult to get at and/or, as for example in medical applications performing a biopsy may lead to unwanted complications and stress to patients. Raman spectroscopy provides a unique capability in terms of every chemical’s spectral signature is a unique fingerprint that can allow its identification. However, there are certain limitations to Raman spectroscopy. For example, Raman scattering cross sections are very small, typically 10 orders of magnitude weaker than typical organic molecules UV–Visible absorption cross section. The advent of lasers coupled with the development of excellent transmission optics and modern CCD cameras has revolutionized Raman spectroscopy in the last 20 years, to the point that samples can be examined be-they gas, liquid or solid, animal, vegetable, or mineral. However, for solid systems standard Raman methods are confined to characterization of the surface. This includes confocal Raman microscopy regularly used to study solids that is restricted to depths of the order of 100 mm below material surface. However, this limitation has recently been overcome using SORS and this new technology is being applied to a range of systems to characterize subsurface diffusely scattering materials, including tissue.