The international Raman microscopy community met from September 30th to October 2nd 2013, in Ulm, Germany to present and discuss their latest scientific results at the 10th Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium.
The diverse talks and poster presentations from various scientific fields provided a comprehensive overview of modern Raman microscopy. The start of the symposium was already promising, setting a record of over 110 attendees who were attracted by the interesting program and the excellent reputation of the symposium.
On the first day of the symposium Prof. Sebastian Schlücker from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, initiated the series of lectures with an introduction to the basics and theoretical background of Raman spectroscopy. Afterwards the audience participated in an interactive quiz about their theoretical and practical Raman knowledge.
Instrument and Software Demonstration at third day of the 10th Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium.
Next was the contributed talk session for which three distinguished researchers were selected from among the submitted abstracts: Dr. Ann-Kathrin Kniggendorf from the Hanover Center for Optical Technologies, Germany, showed her comprehensive results of biofilm analyses; Dr. Nagarajan Subramaniyam from Aalto University in Finland explained the significant work of his research group in the field of semiconductor research.
Alden Dochshanov, University of Naples, Italy, finished the contributed talk session with his interesting explanation of recent Tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) studies in life science research. The conclusion to the first conference day was provided by Prof. Werner Kiefer, University of Würzburg, Germany, with his excellent self-made movie about Raman history.
On the second day of the symposium, Dr. Olaf Hollricher, WITec Managing Director R&D, started the talk session with a practical introduction to confocal Raman microscopy and instrument configurations. He provided useful information on characteristics and specifications of Raman microscope systems for the attendant researchers. In the following presentation Dr. Thomas Dieing, WITec Director Applications & Support, illustrated the possibilities of combined Raman-AFM techniques and gave new insights into novel structural surface imaging techniques such as TrueSurface. Then Prof. Malgorzata Baranska from the Jagiellonian University, Poland, presented her impressive work about combined Raman, Atomic Force, and Scanning Near-field optical microscopy in the field of lifestyle diseases research.
Prof. Baranska demonstrated her scientific achievements with numerous images of her research results. In the next talk, Dr. Christian Matthäus from the Institute of Photonic Technology in Germany showed results acquired through his years of experience in the field of Raman imaging of eukaryotic cells. Evelien Mathieu from imec in Belgium concluded the first session with an overview of her research work about surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of various living biological systems.
In the afternoon session Prof. Henrique E. Toma from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil introduced the second session of the day with a comprehensive overview of Raman microscopy in nanotechnology research. Prof. Christoph Stampfer, RWTH Aachen, Germany, then explained the advantageous application of Raman Microscopy for Graphene and Nano Carbon research. He also stated the importance of these materials for future electrical devices and applications. In the following talk Prof. Jeongyong Kim from the Sungkyunkwang University in South Korea showed results of nano confocal spectroscopic imaging. Another highlight was Dr. Jagjit Nanda’s talk. He shared with the audience his descriptions of confocal Raman Imaging of Electrochemical Storage Materials. The second symposium day was concluded by Prof. Andrew Steele, Carnegie Institute, USA: He was prevented from attending the symposium personally and so presented his high-impact Raman microscopy investigations of extraterrestrial materials directly from his office in Washington DC.
The poster sessions on the first and second day of the symposium were also well-received. While having a snack and a drink, the participants could discuss the scientific topics of a large variety of different research fields and gain new ideas for their further research work.
At night all attendees met in downtown Ulm for the conference dinner. It was a welcome change for the participants and supported the interactive and productive conference atmosphere. During the third day of the symposium the participants had the chance to receive more practical information about Raman microscopy systems during the instrument and software demonstration at WITec headquarters. There was also enough time to discuss all remaining questions directly with WITec employees.
In summary the participants expressed their satisfaction with the symposium and some of them have already announced their attendance for the 11th Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium, which will be held from September 30th to October 2nd 2014 in Ulm, Germany.
About WITec
WITec is the leading manufacturer of confocal and scanning-probe microscopes for state-of-the-art Raman, Atomic Force (AFM), and Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy (SNOM). WITec’s headquarters is located in Ulm, Germany, where all WITec products are developed and produced. Branch offices in USA, Japan, Singapore, and Spain ensure a worldwide sales and support network. From the company’s founding in 1997, WITec has been distinguished by its innovative product portfolio and a microscope design that enables combinations of the various imaging techniques within one system. An exemplar of the company’s breakthrough development is the world’s first integrated Raman-AFM microscope. To this day, WITec’s confocal microscopes are unrivaled in sensitivity, resolution and imaging capabilities. Significant innovation awards document WITec’s enduring success and innovative strength.