JPK Instruments reports on the work from the Light Technology Institute at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, where Nanowizard AFMs enable topographic and optical research.
The generation and utilisation of light is the unifying theme of research and teaching at the KIT Light Technology Institute.
Examples of light technology research projects and services at the institute include nanotechnology, visual ergonomics, materials science and system design.
In the last 10 years, the institute has completed building modifications, added new measurement instrumentation and established new technology-intensive research areas.
Major changes in focus have taken place, especially in the field of light sources.
Dr Hans Eisler heads the DFG Heisenberg Nanoscale Science Group in Karlsruhe.
It currently focuses on the development, engineering and application of quantum-world-based proof-of-principle devices such as single photon sources with directional emission properties at room temperature, novel energy-harvesting devices comprised of resonant optical antennas, or optical antenna mediated near-field probes for microscopy and spectroscopy.
The group utilises top-down nanotechnology approaches such as e-beam lithography to create functional nanodevices.
Since Hans Eisler is a chemist by professional training, the DFG Heisenberg Group also uses nanochemistry to meet the requirements for bottom-up nanotechnology in the field of colloidal quantum dot research.
In order to study such complex and experimentally demanding devices, there is a need to correlate, whenever possible, optical information with topography information.
Thus, the optical workhorse is an (inverted) epi-fluor escence microscope combined with an atomic force microscope (AFM).
The optical methods include wide-field fluorescence, tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS), darkfield microscopy and confocal microscopy under one-photon and multi-photon excitation.
The AFM triggers the topography experiments and, more recently, has helped to create plasmonic architectures such as resonant optical antennas via nanomanipulation schemes.
