Company Announcements

AMETEK’s EDAX business announced in September a collaboration with analytical service lab Covalent Metrology on the application of energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for the quantified characterization of a wide variety of materials. Covalent will employ the EDAX 70mm Octane Elect Super EDS System equipped with advanced APEX software. EDAX will rely on Covalent Metrology’s laboratory as a Silicon Valley demonstration center for customers interested in evaluating and potentially purchasing EDAX EDS systems,

In October, Henniker completed its relocation to Runcorn, UK, tripling its manufacturing space and adding a new R&D lab.

Thorlabs announced in November a licensing agreement with Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) for exclusive rights to a new bessel beam-based, multiphoton volume imaging technique originally developed at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in the lab of Dr. Na Ji. The imaging technique features temporal resolution adequate for studying neuronal systems’ internal dynamics at cellular lateral resolution. The multiphoton volume imaging technique is offered as an add-on module for Thorlabs’ Multiphoton Mesoscope and Bergamo (either 2 photon or 3 photon) imaging systems.

In November, Park Systems officially opened its Beijing office, which is equipped with a Park NX10 AFM system. The office will provide direct support. The company also has an office in Shanghai.

Product Introductions

In September, Media Cybernetics announced Network Server Licenses for its ImagePro image analysis software platform. The Network Server License allows multiple seats of ImagePro to be independently configured and managed through a license server hosted on an internal network.

Tomocube launched in September the HT-1 high-resolution holotomography microscope for generating 3D holographic images of unlabeled live cells. Samples require no labeling or preparation.

In October, Nikon introduced the CFI S Plan Fluor LWD 20XC and CFI S Plan Fluor LWD ADM 20XC objectives. The CFI S Plan Fluor LWD 20XC is suitable for brightfield, fluorescence and differential interference contrast observation. The CFI S Plan Fluor LWD ADM 20XC can be used for brightfield, fluorescence and phase-contrast observation They feature a working distance of 1.3­–2.3 mm.

Nikon launched in November the CFI90 20XC Glyc microscope objective, which is capable of deep imaging of whole, cleared tissues. It combines a large field of view, high numerical aperture and an 8.2 mm working distance.

Olympus released in November the SpinSR10 super-resolution microscope, which combines 0.005 sec/frame acquisition speed and 120 nm super resolution with improvements that provide clearer images and three times the brightness of the standard SpinSR10 model.

In November, DRVISION announced the launch of Aivia Cloud, a usable AI platform for scientific imaging applications.  designed for training and deployment of deep learning models.

Bruker introduced in November the AFM-nDMA mode for its Dimension AFM, stating that it provides the first and only nanoscale viscoelastic measurements that match bulk dynamic mechanical analysis over the entire frequency range typical in bulk rheological measurements.

In November, Bruker debuted the Dimension XR family of SPMs, available in three configurations optimized for nanomechanics, nanoelectrical and nanoelectrochemical applications. The Dimension XR systems are available on either the Icon or FastScan AFM platform

Digital Surf and Image Metrology announced that MountainsSPIP 8 software for SPM image analysis will be available in the second quarter of 2019. The software combining the companies’ respective Mountains and SPIP platforms into a single platform. Applications include interactive particle analysis, force spectroscopy and correlative analysis.

Sales and Orders of Note

In November, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that the UK-based Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium is adding another Thermo Fisher Krios G3i Cryo-TEM system. The latest will be housed at the University of Cambridge, Department of Materials and Metallurgy, and will be used to explore innovative applications of cryo-electron microscopy in materials research.

Confocal.nl announced in November that Professor Markus Sauer at the University of Würzburg has integrated the company’s Re-scan Confocal Microscopy module with a single-molecule dSTROM setup, resulting in resolution of around 20 nm.