| Country | United States |
| City | Providence, RI |
| Tier | Extended (Tier II) |
| Primary ecosystem | Spectral libraries — reflectance (UV through far-IR) |
| Relevant units | RELAB (NASA-supported multi-user facility) · DEEPS (Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences) |
| Signature envelope | UV–VIS through far-IR; FTIR to ~100 µm |
RELAB is primarily a reflectance spectroscopy facility, but it belongs on any research map whose scope includes “reflectivity etc.” Brown’s DEEPS department identifies RELAB as a research facility whose spectra provide the interpretive basis for remote compositional analysis; the laboratory operates UV–VIS–NIR bidirectional and near-/mid-/far-IR FTIR spectrometers (to about 100 µm). RELAB has served for decades as a NASA-supported multi-user spectroscopy facility whose data underpin compositional interpretation of remote planetary surfaces. It represents the truth that reflectance and emissivity communities are deeply connected — Kirchhoff-related reasoning, spectral libraries, and optical-constant interpretation cross these boundaries constantly.
Spectral reflectance (UV–VIS–NIR bidirectional) · reflectance and transmission in the near-, mid-, and far-IR.
The far-IR reach (to ~100 µm) and the breadth of materials in the RELAB archive mean that a very large fraction of the published inversion chains linking laboratory spectra to remote thermal-IR observations either include RELAB data or rely on facilities like it. For the reflectance half of the reflectance/emittance pair — which cannot be cleanly separated from emissivity in any serious optical analysis — RELAB is one of the indispensable US nodes.
Every claim in this profile traces to the external sources listed above. Profile follows the research-map methodology. Last verified: 2026-04 (directory revision 2026-06-11).