AXT are proud to announce they have signed an exclusive distribution agreement with LIG Nanowise Limited/NANORO and will be bringing their unique super resolution optical microscopy technology to Australia and New Zealand.  NANORO’s patented SMAL technology gives optical microscopes 4-5 times more magnification and allows them to resolve nano-sized structures and features down to 50nm.

LIG Nanowise Limited are the first company in the world to commercialise Microsphere Technology for optical microscopy. By incorporating a microsphere into a custom objective it allows the microscope to go beyond the diffraction limit of light which limits even the best conventional light microscopes to approximately 200nm resolution. Using SMAL (Super resolution Microsphere Amplifying Lens) technology, NANOSPSIS are able to resolve features down to about 50nm depending on the sample. Their technique was reported in Nature Communications by Wang et al., 2011.

Their first product, the NANORO M is aimed at the materials science market. The NANOPSIS M allows imaging of structures that previously could only be resolved with complex and expensive electron microscopes.

The super resolution capability of the NANORO M make it ideal for researchers involved in nanotechnology, nanomaterials and graphene. It will also open up possibilities in other materials-related fields such as metallurgy, advanced materials, coatings, failure analysis, surface metrology and forensics.

Practically, the NANORO M is operated similarly to a conventional optical microscope. The technology is also elegantly simple, so users of conventional optical microscopes will be able to quickly adapt to using the NANORO M. Perhaps best of all, the NANORO M is extremely affordable and financially well within the reach of most laboratories.

Gerardas Dambrauskas, Business Development Manager at LIG Nanowise Limited said, “we are excited to appoint AXT as our first distributor. They have a proven track record with introducing new products and technologies to the Australian market and we look forward to seeing our products in the hands of Australian and New Zealand researchers.”

Richard Trett, Managing Director of AXT also commented, “we are always looking for cutting edge scientific solutions to bring to Australia and New Zealand and NANORO fits the bill perfectly. With the capabilities and price point of the NANORO M, we envisage it will become a key piece of equipment in many labs”.

The NANORO product range joins AXT’s extensive microscopy product portfolio that includes electron microscopes, digital microscopes, X-ray microscopes and a host of related accessories that cater to materials science, life science, failure analysis and mining.