Includes bibliographical references and index.

High-resolution optical and confocal microscopy -- Introduction to the fundamentals of Raman spectroscopy -- Raman instrumentation for confocal Raman microscopy -- Software requirements and data analysis in confocal Raman microscopy -- Nano-spectroscopy of individual carbon nanotubes and isolated graphene sheets -- Raman spectroscopy and confocal Raman imaging in mineralogy and petrography -- Raman micro-spectral imaging of cells and intracellular drug delivery using nanocarrier systems -- Confocal Raman microscopy in pharmaceutical development -- Characterization of therapeutic coatings on medical devices -- Raman imaging of plant cell walls -- Confocal Raman imaging of polymeric materials -- Stress analysis by means of Raman microscopy.