May. 31, 2010

Development of Gold-Covered “Microlens”

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new nanotechnology-based "microlens" that uses gold to boost the strength of infrared imaging and could lead to a new generation of ultra-powerful satellite cameras and night-vision devices. By leveraging the unique properties of nanoscale gold to "squeeze" light into tiny holes in the surface of the device, the researchers have doubled the detectivity of a quantum dot-based infrared detector. With some refinements, the researchers expect this new technology should be able to enhance detectivity by up to 20 times. moreMay. 18, 2010

Seamless Integration of Atomic Force and Light Microscopy

Agilent Technologies announced the availability of the Agilent 6000ILM AFM, an atomic force microscopy (AFM) platform. The Platform is a research solution that seamlessly integrates the capabilities of an AFM with those of an inverted light microscope or an inverted confocal microscope. The 6000ILM supports a wide variety of scanning probe microscopy imaging modes and lets life science researchers go beyond the optical diffraction limit to achieve nanoscale spatial resolution with unprecedented ease of use. more