Measurement of the absolute Raman scattering cross section of the 1584-cm-1 band of benzenethiol and the surface-enhanced Raman scattering cross section enhancement factor for femtosecond laser-nanostructured substrates

The absolute Raman scattering cross section (URS) for the 1584-cm(-1) band of benzenethiol at 897 nm (1.383 eV) has been measured to be 8.9 +/- 1.8 x 10(-30) cm(2) using a 785-nm pump laser. A temperature-controlled, small-cavity blackbody source was used to calibrate the signal output of the Raman spectrometer. We also measured the absolute surface-enhanced Raman scattering cross section (USERS) of benzenethiol adsorbed onto a silver-coated, femtosecond laser-nanostructured substrate. Using the measured values of 8.9 +/- 1.8 x 10(-30) and 6.6 +/- 1.3 x 10(-24) cm(2) for URs and USERS respectively, we calculate an average cross-section enhancement factor (EF) of 0.8 +/- 0.3 x 10(6). Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.