mellaninfraröd

Mellaninfraröd is not a widely established term in scientific literature and may represent either a mistaken fusion of melanin and infrared, or a nonstandard way of referring to the mid-infrared region in Swedish.

If the term is used to describe melanin’s interaction with infrared light, melanin is a pigment found in skin, hair, and eyes with a very broad absorption spectrum that extends from the ultraviolet and visible into the near-infrared. The exact infrared absorption depends on the type of melanin (eumelanin versus pheomelanin) and its concentration, and it influences the skin’s optical properties and heat handling. In dermatology and photobiology, infrared light is used in imaging and therapy, and melanin content affects the emissivity and heating response of skin in infrared applications.

If the term refers to the mid-infrared region itself (often called MIR, roughly 2.5 to 25 micrometers), it is a separate concept from melanin. MIR is the spectral range where many molecules exhibit characteristic vibrational resonances and is widely used in chemical identification via techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In this context, the term mellaninfraröd would be uncommon; the standard Swedish term would be mitt infraröd or refer to the mid-infrared region more specifically.

In practice, to avoid confusion, specialists separate melanin (the pigment) from infrared regions and refer to either melanin’s spectral properties or to infrared spectroscopy, rather than a combined term. See also melanin, infrared spectroscopy, infrared imaging, dermatology.