Testimonials

“We were happy to acquire the VistaScope from Molecular Vista. For the past few years, we have actively used the VistaScope to do photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM) measurements on thin-films of porous materials, including zeolites and metal-organic frameworks. This has been done to learn more about reaction intermediates and products, as catalyzed by these solid materials, as well as to study the adsorption of small molecules, currently even under in-situ conditions. Although these experiments are challenging, we have always had full support and help from the team of Molecular Vista. The great advantage is that meaningful infrared spectra can be measured at the nanoscale, and that comparison with other bulk analytical methods, are possible, thereby linking the nanoworld with the macroscopic world. We can very much recommend the VistaScope to anyone interested in performing infrared nano-spectroscopy of functional materials, not limited to solid catalysts.”

“As a geoscientist working in the interdisciplinary area of biomineralization, I am very open for new approaches and cutting-edge analytical developments. My samples (i.e. nacre or mother-of-pearl) are usually challenging to analyze due to its anisotropic hardness, beam sensitivity, and insulating properties. PiFM simultaneously obtained topography and phase maps with unrivaled nano-scale resolution without inducing any sort of beam damage or sample consumption while complementing other analytical techniques such as atom probe tomography, synchrotron STXM, and S/TEM imaging. Already the first few PiFM measurements of nacre have confirmed that nano-scale organic inclusions contain proteinaceous material as previously suspected. I am enthusiastic to continue using PiFM for more aspects of my research and to deepen the collaboration with the expert staff at Molecular Vista!”

“We were fortunate to acquire one of the first VistaScope from Molecular Vista. For the past few years, we have used the VistaScope to do photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM) measurements with femtosecond laser pulses. We knew that these experiments were going to be challenging, but they were made so much easier because of the VistaScope. Molecular Vista has done a fantastic job designing the scan head, which allows for coupling light beams in and out of the tip-sample junction with relative ease. The system is stable, easily configurable with additional optics, and is controlled by an intuitive and versatile graphical user interface. We were able to generate interesting PiFM results as soon as the system was installed, and we have been using the system on a daily basis ever since. We can very much recommend the VistaScope to anyone interested in advanced scan probe experiments combined with optical illumination!”

“We believe PiFM is poised to become a genuinely unique tool in the exploration of the phenomena derived in nanoscale systems. This new scanning probe imaging paradigm offers the distinctive prospect of detecting optically induced behavior without directly measuring the photon field created. A direct measure of induced photo-induced polarization/polarizability opens a very unique window in the study of complex materials systems. Moreover, exploiting resonance coupling of cantilever nano-mechanical modes as direct detectors of photo-mediated forces will allow phase-sensitive detection techniques to enable the sensitive observation of local optical responses with extraordinary nanoscale resolution.”