TERS — Ready or Not ?

microscopy (SPM) for nano-scale imaging with confocal Raman spectroscopy for chemical characterization. Challenges with tip quality, optical alignment, consistency and speed, however, have made the technique difficult and complex. New instrumentation is addressing these challenges, allowing TERS to migrate from pure research to routine laboratory analysis. These systems provide correlated nano-scale Raman imaging, enabling scientists to visualize, chemically characterize and implement change, even at the single-molecule level. As a result, TERS is extending nano-Raman imaging applications from conventional polymers and industrial constituents to a wide array of organic molecules, as well as to the more unusual carbon-based, two-dimensional and semiconducting nanomaterials. In the life sciences, TERS is expanding into the investigation of nucleic and amino acids.