VUV/UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy is the measurement of the attenuation of a beam of light after it passes through a sample or after reflection from a sample surface. It can be used either in gas, solution or solid state for the quantitative determination of different analyses and optical absorption characteristics. Absorption measurements can be at a single wavelength or over an extended spectral range. This spectroscopy is usually applied to molecules or inorganic complexes in solution, but can also be applied to gases and cryogenically prepared ice materials. Solution spectra generally have broad features that are of limited use for sample identification, but are very useful for quantitative measurements.

The UV-Vis range spans the range of human visual acuity of approximately 400 - 750 nm, and so this spectroscopy is useful to characterize the absorption, transmission, and reflectivity of a variety of technologically important materials, such as films, pigments, coatings, windows, and filters. The VUV-UV range (~115-400 nm) is used to investigate the higher energy electronic structure of gas and solid phase species. 

The infrastructure provides VUV/UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometry, with some methods combining an integrating sphere, which can be used for high precision diffused reflectance and scattered transmittance measurements on virtually any solid or liquid.