Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp mIRage®

The mIRage system breaks the IR diffraction limit through Optical Photothermal Infrared (O-PTIR) Spectroscopy, where a tunable pulsed mid-IR laser stimulates a photothermal response on the sample surface. This thermal response is measured using a colinear visible probe laser focused on the sample. The spatial resolution is determined by the diffraction-limited spot size of the visible laser (approximately 500 nm), making it independent of the IR wavenumber, unlike conventional diffraction-limited methods.

Since mIRage is built on an optical microscope platform, measurements are gathered quickly without requiring direct contact with the sample. Operating in reflection mode, O-PTIR eliminates the need for thin samples and provides spectra comparable to FTIR, making it ideal for database searches, without the dispersive artifacts commonly seen in ATR.