So with the caveat that I don't really know anything about this subject (and am merely enthusiastic), there's a handheld near infrared scope new for $2k (from an ad I clicked on in Spectroscopy mag) and here's a list of what it can do:
I don't know much about this subject but I'm definitely interested. Spectroscopy Magazine looks cool and they posted info for an Agilent webinar coming up next week that might be just the background research you're looking for:
https://twitter.com/SpectroscopyMag/status/1504442953246429190?t=8mSQNjeTq7YiyWZblelJXQ&s=19…
I don't know much about it (and haven't played with any instruments) but I'm fascinated by the idea of spectroscopy. Not sure how good cheap/entry-level devices are but there certainly are a lot of them out there.
Oh lol, forgot that exchange
New interest due to JWST being in infrared and wondering how to get into it myself. Astrospectrography seems to be a thing.