We report a novel optical microscope for full-field, noncontact measurements of three-dimensional (3D) surface deformation and topography at the microscale. The microscope system is based on a seamless integration of the diffraction-assisted image correlation (DAIC) method with fluorescent microscopy. We experimentally demonstrate the microscope's capability for 3D measurements with submicromet...

Confocal optical microscopy is a technique for increasing the contrast of microscope images, particularly in thick specimens. By restricting the observed volume, the technique keeps overlying or nearby scatterers from contributing to the detected signal. The price for this is that the instrument must observe only one point at a time (in the scanning laser version) or a group of separated points...

InAs nanowires are grown epitaxially by catalyst-free metal organic vapor phase epitaxy and are subsequently positioned with a lateral accuracy of less than 1 μm using simple adhesion forces between the nanowires and an indium tip. The technique, requiring only an optical microscope, is used to place individual nanowires onto the corner of a cleaved-edge wafer as well as across predefined holes...

A transmission differential phase-contrast microscope with a split detector is used as a readout system for a multilayered three-dimensional optical memory. The system is applicable to data recorded as refractive-index changes. The system is compact and easy to use. The three-dimensional optical transfer function for the system is derived. This shows that the spatial bandwidth of the system is ...

The knowledge of the theoretical principles of image formation is crucial for understanding what we observe in transmission electron microscope. Two processes mainly determine the image contrast: the electron interaction with specimen and the electron-optical imaging process including the microscope aberrations. Multislice calculation and contrast transfer function are main tools used for inter...

Abbreviations: BOD: biochemical oxygen demand COD: chemical oxygen demand OD: optical density OW: optimized wastewater PNSB: purple non sulphur photosynthetic bacteria ROW:raw optimized wastewater RW: raw wastewater SCP: single cell protein SEM: scanning electron microscope SOW: sterile optimized wastewater SW: sterile wastewater TEM: transmission electron microscope TKN: total kjeldahl nitroge...

A tapered, metal-coated, optical fiber probe will elongate when heated by light input through a fiber. The induced motion can be used for data storage or nanostructuring of a surface. The elongation produced by this alignment-free system is measured with force feedback in a near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM). The input light intensity controls the elongation magnitude, which ranges f...

X-ray imaging in differential interference contrast (DIC) with submicrometer optical resolution was performed by using a twin zone plate (TZP) setup generating focal spots closely spaced within the TZP spatial resolution of 160 nm. Optical path differences introduced by the sample are recorded by a CCD camera in a standard full-field imaging and by an aperture photodiode in a standard scanning ...

We report on the fabrication and characterization of thick UV-patternable hybrid sol-gel films by spin coating using a modified sol-gel process. Thick coating of 25 microns with crack-free surface can be produced by one spin coating step. Thick layers of more than 100 μm can be obtained with a multi-coating process. Characterization using different techniques including optical microscope and at...

A reflection-mode aperture-type scanning near-field optical microscope ~R-SNOM! based on the external collection of the reflected light is presented. The light detection is based on an elliptical mirror setup, with the tip and sample at one focus, and a photomultiplier tube at the other. Results are presented on the general imaging properties of this microscope. The results presented concentrat...