Anasys Instruments, Santa Barbara, Calif., released the Mirage IR Microscope, which attempts to improve the field of IR spectroscopy by solving two of the biggest problems facing the field of IR microscopy: achieving submicron spatial resolution and measurement of thick samples in reflection mode without the contact limitations of ATR, and without dispersive artifacts.
Mirage achieves sub-micron spatial resolution IR imaging and spectroscopy, with a spatial resolution improvement of over 20×. Mirage works on the principle of photothermal IR spectroscopy (PTIR) providing transmission quality FTIR spectra, even in reflection mode.
Using PTIR eliminates another longstanding limitation for IR microscopy, namely the inability to work on thick samples. The Mirage allows IR spectroscopy of surfaces without the contact limitations of ATR, thus expanding IR to many new applications. The Mirage obtains IR spectroscopy of surfaces on thick samples in a non-contact way. It enables faster time to data, and cost of ownership improvements while providing correlation to industry standard FTIR databases.
The new Mirage IR microscope overcomes the IR diffraction limit by combining a pulsed tunable laser with a proprietary optical technique measuring photothermal response of the sample in a fast, easy to use manner. Mirage relies on the decade of expertise in photothermal physics that Anasys has built up since starting the research on their AFM based nanoscale IR spectroscopy platform.
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Image –Mirage IR microscopy by Anasys Instruments.
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