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Tiny Chips Snag Atomic Spectra 
Everything's getting smaller these days. Researchers demonstrated atomic spectroscopy with integrated optics guiding a beam of light through a rubidium vapor cell the size of a thumbnail. The paper in Nature Photonics describes using hollow-core antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides to guide light. The cells have a footprint of less than 1 cm².
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DIY Cuvettes
Quartz cuvettes for holding samples are so common that they're practically unnoticed, but they need thorough cleaning and they're big — not built for microvolumes that spectrometers can now handle. New microvolume cuvettes are available that are disposable, offer short path lengths, UV and IR transparency, and they can be rapidly customized to your system.
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Simpler, Smaller Instruments?
Can microcantilever-based sensors provide a cheaper, smaller, and easier-to-use alternative to chromatography? Microtech researchers think microcantilever based systems (with detection limits as small as parts per trillion) could challenge high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography (GC), and gas liquid chromatography (GLC), says one researcher.
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Get What You Need
Maybe you can't always get what you want, but the first step should consist of figuring out what you need. John Dolan of LC Resources describes a rational method of tweaking chromatography methods to fit the application in LCGC Magazine. Dolan also participates in the Chromatography Forum discussion group.
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Pfeiffer Vacuum, Inc.
High-Vacuum Pump that Works Against Atmosphere
With its performance and compact design, the new OnTool™ Booster is setting new standards in vacuum technology. It is characterized by an extremely high pumping speed of 130 m³/h and an ultimate pressure of < 1 x 10-5 mbar.
For more information read this product announcement from Pfeiffer Vacuum.
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DILAS
The Diode Laser Company
DILAS, a world leader in high-power semiconductor lasers, unveiled a new brand identity to reinforce their image and market growth over the past years and to reaffirm DILAS' position as a leader in the global delivery of high-power diode lasers.
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Glowing Tumors
Researchers created 3D images of human breast cancer in patients based on tissue fluorescence. The method, fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT) relies on molecules in tissue that give off light when illuminated at a different color. Because fluorophores are exquisitely sensitive to their local environment, the method could provide information about tumor physiology.
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Exciting News from Excitons
Near-infrared photoluminescence microscopy provides a way to watch single-molecule chemical reactions with individual single-walled carbon nanotubes. The emission intensity reflected quenching of excitons at localized sites of chemical attack, say the researchers in Science. When electrons and holes separate in a semiconductor, the pair can be considered an exciton — a short-lived quasiparticle that disappears when it emits a photon.
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Calibration in Your Pocket
Two new calibration tools help correct and validate the performance of fluorescent spectrometers. NIST has developed two ready-to-use, fluorescent glass Standard Reference Materials (SRMs), about the size of a pack of gum, with certified values that can be used to correct fluorescence emission spectra for relative intensity.
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Thinner is Better
Using a scanning-probe microscope (SPM), researchers are learning about properties of very thin — less than 20-nanometer thick — layers of dielectric materials. This allows more precise fabrication, and development of a Nanomachining platform based on the SPM. The research, to be published in Physical Review Letters, focuses on the dielectric breakdown of liquid organic molecules.
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Electrasem
Ceramic Substrates With Fired-In Precious Metal Pins
Electrasem's contract assembly capabilities include manufacturing custom ceramic substrates for instrumentation, analytical devices, and scientific equipment. Its cellular manufacturing units produce custom ceramic substrates with fired-in precious metal pins for superior performance and ultra-high reliability in rugged environments. Electrasem offers contract assembly services to meet prototype to low volume assembly requirements.
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Davis Inotek Instruments, LLC
Fluke Ti30 Thermal Imager
With the enhanced Ti30 high-performance thermal imager, predictive maintenance has never been easier. Ti30 owners can take images from previous inspections, complete with location names and temperature data, and upload them to the system for use as a "routing guide." This is perfect for periodic checks of critical equipment and when repairs must be verified. Find out more.
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Dice
A Better Job Search by Design
DiceEngineering.com offers thousands of quality engineering jobs at top technology and engineering companies. Find jobs in your area of expertise. Search now.
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Checking Out the Free Radicals
 The 29th International Symposium on Free Radicals will be held in Big Sky, MT from August 12-17. Session topics include interstellar spectroscopy, high-resolution spectroscopy, spectroscopic properties of reactive complexes and energized molecules, and novel spectroscopic techniques. There will also be sessions on recombination and dissociation, reaction dynamics, and free radicals in combustion.
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Calling All Creators
Many, many new instruments have been cobbled together from scavenged parts in labs when researchers discovered that they needed to see or measure something that nobody had thought about seeing and measuring before. This sort of handiness is encouraged by the projects in the magazine Make and celebrated by the Maker Faire.
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