Fast and simple imaging of the physical changes undergone during crystallisation remains analytically challenging because the transition from a liquid to solid state introduces significant analytical complexity. Samples can often be easily characterised in their initial “wet” or final “dry” and stable state using different analytical techniques, but because many of these more common techniques hold samples under a high vacuum, the number of techniques that allow the full kinetic process to be observed remains small. And unfortunately, the utility of some techniques that would otherwise allow characterisation across phase transitions is limited at industry-important crystallisation rates because they take many minutes to collect a single image. Thus, any imaging technique that can comprehensively characterize a sample across the dynamic transition from a liquid to solid phase (or vice versa) will have significant impact on many aspects of product fabrication, sample formulation and product quality control.
Motivated by this need to image across dynamic sample environments, this talk will focus on the operating principles of a new imaging modality, Resonance Imaging Microscopy (RIM). RIM is a multi-source evanescent field scattering technique that uses visible light to enable the high-speed, non-destructive, label and stain-free imaging of particulates with nearly any shape, composition and size (from tens of nanometers to hundreds of microns in diameter). Samples can be imaged in their native state (wet or dry) across a wide temperature range are imaged.
In this talk we will discuss the physical principles behind the RIM method as well as results of modelling the scattering behaviour.
