The Mirage™ IR Microscope is an innovative new system uniquely providing sub-micron IR spectroscopy and imaging across a wide variety of applications.

Using a proprietary technique based upon Optical Photothermal IR (O-PTIR) spectroscopy, Mirage breaks the diffraction limit and bridges the gap between conventional IR microspectroscopy and nanoscale IR spectroscopy.

A fast and easy to use non-contact optical technique

Mirage overcomes the IR diffraction limit with an innovative technique, Optical Photothermal Infrared (O-PTIR) spectroscopy.

A tunable pulsed mid-IR laser induces photothermal effects into a sample surface, which are measured using a visible probe laser focused on the sample. The measurements are collected in a fast, easy to use manner without the need for contact-based techniques like ATR spectroscopy.

Learn more about PTIR here.

Eliminates need for thin sections

Transmission FTIR quality spectra in reflection mode

Mirage provides IR spectroscopy and chemical imaging, independent of IR wavelength. Using O-PTIR, highly sensitive IR measurements are enabled, providing transmission quality absorption without surface contact. This eliminates the need for thin samples and improves turnaround times.
Bone sample: Reflection mode IR Spectra and hyperspectral imaging 25 x 25 µm array, 500-nm spacing. Left: Single wavelength image (1058 cm-1) from Hyperspectral data set
Right: Single-pixel spectrum – 1s collection time

Mirage covers a broad applications range

Mirage provides unique, first and only data covering a wide range of applications including polymeric and non-polymeric materials, life science, complex pharmaceutical samples and micro-electronics contamination.

Discover how Mirage can solve your problems or help reveal new discoveries. To get in touch to send us your samples, email us at [email protected].

Polymers
Multilayer film sample: Reflection mode spectral line array on each layer within cross sectioned film sample. 100 scans/spectrum (140 sec). Inset: mIRage optical image of sample cross section, embedded in epoxy stub.
Life science
Porcine stem cell sample: Reflection mode single wavelength image (1540 cm-1) extracted from hyperspectral data set. 30 x 30 µm image with 500 nm point spacing, 1 spectrum/point (1s).
Pharmaceuticals
Drug/Polymer blend sample: Reflection mode single wavelength image (50 x 50 µm) collected at 1666 cm-1, highlighting distribution of the drug, dexamethasone, in a PLGA polymer matrix.