Organic LEDs and FETs are hot areas of research, but in order to improve the devices researchers need to probe the electronic structure of their unoccupied states. Inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES) gives direct information on unoccupied states, but damages the sample. Researchers refined the method to reduced damage and increase sensitivity.

Ferroelectric materials can store digital data. At macroscopic lengths, ferroelectric materials are electrically polarized, but at nanometer lengths, they are not — not always. Penn State researchers used ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy to reveal a range of temperatures, thicknesses, and structural configurations at which nanoscale barium titanate can store a switchable electric field.

Indirect estimates of illicit drug use in communities are unreliable and difficult to quantify. Italian researchers directly determined the amounts of a variety of illicit drugs in wastewater collected at sewage treatment plants, using high pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The instrument detects amphetamines, cocaine, THC, and other drugs.

A new tool helps brain researchers quickly and sensitively measure important neurotransmitters via microdialysis. This technique is used to determine the chemical components of the fluid in the extracellular space of tissues. The single chromatographic system provides simultaneous quantification of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin in a single sample.

Never before available to battery researchers, an instrument combines nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyze thin films and membranes of devices (like cell batteries) in real time, under real test conditions, through a complete battery charge/discharge process. It provides three simultaneous views of complementary information.

Glycoproteins on the surface of cells are distinctive markers of programmed cell death — the normal process by which cells commit suicide. These markers have been quickly and cheaply detected using a combination of light scattering and fluorescence imaging. Ukrainian researchers describe a variety of methods for detecting this process.

The details of how, exactly, raindrops form has been a contentious mystery for years. Scientists are working on an explanation by using an airplane-borne instrument that measures the sizes of water droplets in clouds. The phase Doppler interferometer attaches to the wing of an airplane and uses lasers to measure droplet sizes while the plane flies through clouds.

A hybrid NanoScale Optical Profiler combines 3D imaging and metrology. The instrument provides fast, repeatable, non-destructive testing for critical metrology, inspection, failure analysis, and quality control applications. The instrument incorporates a binocular microscope and confocal microscope (3D metrology techniques, such as scanned laser confocal or interferometry) that provides resolutions below 50 nm.

Professor Tom Perera of Montclair State University collects scientific instruments and telegraph equipment, and has put images of many of his instruments online. These include an early spectrometer, as well as galvanometers, Leyden jars, vacuum tubes, and a mechanical pocket calculator. He also is interested in trading scientific instruments for early telegraph instruments.