光谱学是研究物质发射、吸收或散射的光、声或粒子来研究物质的方法。

光谱学也可以被定义为研究光和物质之间相互作用的学科。历史上，光谱学指用可见光来对物质结构的理论研究和定量和定性的分析的科学分支。但是，近来，光谱学的定义已经被扩展为一种不只用可见光，也用许多其他电磁或非电磁辐射（如微波，无线电波，X射线，电子，声子（声波）等）的新技术。阻抗光谱学则研究交流电的频率响应。

光谱学被频繁的用在物理和分析化学中，通过发射或吸收光谱来鉴定物质。一种记录光谱的仪器叫分光计。光谱学可以通过其测量或计算的物理属性或测量过程来分类。

Spectroscopy /spɛkˈtrɒskəpi/ is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to include any interaction with radiative energy as a function of its wavelength or frequency. Spectroscopic data is often represented by a spectrum, a plot of the response of interest as a function of wavelength or frequency.