Tiny defects quickly identified

How did you come up with the idea for a new microscope?
In our lab, we study the crystal structure of materials. We use an optical process called second harmonic generation (SHG) that is already established in the scientific community. We project laser light with a specific frequency into the sample. At any crack or change in the surface structure, the light scatters and responds with doubled frequency. This phenomenon has been known for a long time, but so far has only been used for biological samples. For such bio applications, there are already SHG microscopes on the market.

What is the drawback of these existing microscopes?
They are big, expensive and not very flexible. Our microscope can measure in different modes (reflection or transmission) and can explore the effect of polarization. The option to change the polarization enables us to study the specific material structure in high resolution. Furthermore, we do imaging on a camera and not just on single pixels. That means we do not have to scan the samples like commercial microscopes and, therefore, we are very fast. That is the reason why we call our technology PolarNon = polarization non-scanning microscope.

Where do you see potential applications?
We can detect the smallest signs of material defects, e.g. cracks, fatigue or corrosion that are not visible to the eye. One possible application is the quality control of electronic chips and components. So far, the semiconductor industry carries out destructive tests on only a few samples. With our technology, they could incorporate quality control into the production line and check every product non-destructively and in a short time.

A further area of application is the aerospace industry. We can study fatigue and corrosion in metals on small samples as well as help to model material properties on a large scale.

Civil engineers are also interested in our technology. We have started to test some samples of construction materials to detect corrosion.

The watch industry might also be a potential customer, as our technology enables fast quality control.

How do you want to bring this technology to market?
Our prototype is ready and working. We are currently collaborating with different companies and doing tests on different materials to develop a portfolio of industrial applications. We are interested in securing further industrial partners, e.g. companies that provide samples for our tests but also laser manufacturers that are interested in jointly developing a microscope product.

The next step will be to develop an industrial design of the microscope. The microscope prototype currently looks like an optical setup, but we will make it more compact and remove all the parts that we currently use for research purposes.

We can think of various different business models. With our technology, it would be possible to offer a measurement service, to sell the hardware or just to sell the software. The software that we have developed is very special because it enables an automated test process and could even be used for conventional microscopes.

We are open to ideas and input from industry, and would be happy to talk to interested companies.