Herein we report
on a deep-learning method for the removal of instrumental
noise and unwanted spectral artifacts in Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) or Raman spectra, especially in automated applications in which
a large number of spectra have to be acquired within limited time.
Automated batch workflows allowing only a few seconds per measurement,
without the possibility of manually optimizing measurement parameters,
often result in challenging and heterogeneous datasets. A prominent
example of this problem is the automated spectroscopic measurement
of particles in environmental samples regarding their content of microplastic
(MP) particles. Effective spectral identification is hampered by low
signal-to-noise ratios and baseline artifacts as, again, spectral
post-processing and analysis must be performed in automated measurements,
without adjusting specific parameters for each spectrum. We demonstrate
the application of a simple autoencoding neural net for reconstruction
of complex spectral distortions, such as high levels of noise, baseline
bending, interferences, or distorted bands. Once trained on appropriate
data, the network is able to remove all unwanted artifacts in a single
pass without the need for tuning spectra-specific parameters and with
high computational efficiency. Thus, it offers great potential for
monitoring applications with a large number of spectra and limited
analysis time with availability of representative data from already
completed experiments.