The heart of this study is a fiber microcavity. Here, one can see a small concave depression in the surface of an optical fiber. The researchers used a microcavity with two concave mirrors, but this image of a single concave microcavity makes it easier to see the fiber mirror setup. Credit: Photo by Carlos Saavedra / UW–Madison
While researchers can glean useful information from studying materials and biological systems at larger scales, Goldsmith says that observing the behavior of and interactions between individual molecules is important for contextualizing that information, sometimes leading to new insights. The method that the UW–Madison team developed relies on a device called an optical microresonator, or microcavity. As its name suggests, the microcavity is an extremely tiny space where light can be trapped in both space and time — at least for a few nanoseconds — where it can interact with a molecule. Microcavities are more commonly found in physics or electrical engineering laboratories, not chemistry labs.
There are other ways to do that, but they require large amounts of sample material and time-consuming analyses. With the newly developed microcavity technique, Goldsmith says, “We can potentially build a black-box tool to give us the answer in tens of seconds.”
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