Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) Imaging
Laser direct infrared imaging (LDIR) is an infrared microscopy architecture that utilizes a tunable Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) as the IR source. This new reflectance-based architecture eliminates coherence artifacts typically associated with QCLs. It also allows the acquisition of large-area, high-definition IR images as well as high signal-to-noise point spectra. Extending this architecture using Attenuated Total Reflectance Attenuated total reflection (ATR) is a sampling technique used in conjunction with infrared spectroscopy which enables samples to be examined directly in the solid or liquid state without further preparation. ATR uses a property of total inter ... (ATR) allows the acquisition of high fidelity spectra from features less than 10 μm in size. The application of LDIR to stain-free biochemical imaging has recently been reported, with the authors citing the speed of LDIR imaging as an advantage over traditional IR imaging architectures. References {{Refl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Infrared Microscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopy, along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy involve the diffraction, reflection, or refraction of electromagnetic radiation/electron beams interacting with the specimen, and the collection of the scattered radiation or another signal in order to create an image. This process may be carried out by wide-field irradiation of the sample (for example standard light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) or by scanning a fine beam over the sample (for example confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy). Scanning probe microscopy involves the interaction of a scanning probe with the surface of the object ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Quantum Cascade Laser
Quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor lasers that emit in the mid- to far-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and were first demonstrated by Jérôme Faist, Federico Capasso, Deborah Sivco, Carlo Sirtori, Albert Hutchinson, and Alfred Cho at Bell Laboratories in 1994. Unlike typical interband semiconductor lasers that emit electromagnetic radiation through the recombination of electron–hole pairs across the material band gap, QCLs are unipolar, and laser emission is achieved through the use of intersubband transitions in a repeated stack of semiconductor multiple quantum well heterostructures, an idea first proposed in the article "Possibility of amplification of electromagnetic waves in a semiconductor with a superlattice" by R. F. Kazarinov and R. A. Suris in 1971. Intersubband vs. interband transitions Within a bulk semiconductor crystal, electrons may occupy states in one of two continuous energy bands — the valence band, which is heavily ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Point Spectrum
In mathematics, particularly in functional analysis, the spectrum of a bounded linear operator (or, more generally, an unbounded linear operator) is a generalisation of the set of eigenvalues of a matrix. Specifically, a complex number \lambda is said to be in the spectrum of a bounded linear operator T if T-\lambda I is not invertible, where I is the identity operator. The study of spectra and related properties is known as spectral theory, which has numerous applications, most notably the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics. The spectrum of an operator on a finite-dimensional vector space is precisely the set of eigenvalues. However an operator on an infinite-dimensional space may have additional elements in its spectrum, and may have no eigenvalues. For example, consider the right shift operator ''R'' on the Hilbert space ℓ2, :(x_1, x_2, \dots) \mapsto (0, x_1, x_2, \dots). This has no eigenvalues, since if ''Rx''=''λx'' then by expanding this expression we see ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Attenuated Total Reflectance
Attenuated total reflection (ATR) is a sampling technique used in conjunction with infrared spectroscopy which enables samples to be examined directly in the solid or liquid state without further preparation. ATR uses a property of total internal reflection resulting in an evanescent wave. A beam of infrared light is passed through the ATR crystal in such a way that it reflects at least once off the internal surface in contact with the sample. This reflection forms the evanescent wave which extends into the sample. The penetration depth into the sample is typically between 0.5 and 2 micrometres, with the exact value determined by the wavelength of light, the angle of incidence and the indices of refraction for the ATR crystal and the medium being probed. The number of reflections may be varied by varying the angle of incidence. The beam is then collected by a detector as it exits the crystal. Most modern infrared spectrometers can be converted to characterise samples via ATR by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chemical Imaging
Chemical imaging (as quantitative – ''chemical mapping'') is the analytical capability to create a visual image of components distribution from simultaneous measurement of spectra and spatial, time information. Hyperspectral imaging measures contiguous spectral bands, as opposed to multispectral imaging which measures spaced spectral bands. The main idea - for chemical imaging, the analyst may choose to take as many data spectrum measured at a particular chemical component in spatial location at time; this is useful for chemical identification and quantification. Alternatively, selecting an image plane at a particular data spectrum ( PCA - multivariable data of wavelength, spatial location at time) can map the spatial distribution of sample components, provided that their spectral signatures are different at the selected data spectrum. Software for chemical imaging is most specific and distinguished from chemical methods such as chemometrics. Imaging instrumentation has three co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |