%A Xiaolin LU, Zhan CHEN, Gi XUE, Xinping WANG %T Probing polymer surfaces and interfaces using sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy – a powerful nonlinear optical technique %0 Journal Article %D 2010 %J Front. Chem. China %J Frontiers of Chemistry in China %@ 1673-3495 %R 10.1007/s11458-010-0220-7 %P 435-444 %V 5 %N 4 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/fcc/EN/10.1007/s11458-010-0220-7 %8 2010-12-05 %X

Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy has been proved to be a powerful technique which substantially impacts on many research areas in surface and interfacial sciences. This paper reviews the recent progress of applying this nonlinear optical technique in the studies of polymer surfaces and interfaces. The theoretical background of SFG is introduced first. Current applications of SFG in polymer science are then described in more detail to demonstrate the significance of this technique. Finally, a short summary is presented on this relatively new but widely applicable spectroscopic technique.