THz spectroscopy and chemometrics for quantitative determination of chemical properties and dating of historic paper

Characterization of historic objects is often challenging because of material inhomogeneity and because of the need for non-destructive analysis. In this contribution, we present the use of THz spectroscopy in combination with chemometric data evaluation for quantitative determination of different chemical and physical properties of historic paper such as lignin content, pH, date of production. For the first time, this demonstrates the potential of this technique for quantitative chemical characterisation of complex natural organic materials.