Nippon Sheet Glass and Professor Takehiko Kitamori of the University of Tokyo have been working together to develop a miniature chemical analysis system that uses laser light to track the progress of …
Nippon Sheet Glass and Professor Takehiko Kitamori of the University of Tokyo have been working together to develop a miniature chemical analysis system that uses laser light to track the progress of chemical reactions on a small glass chip. Professor Kitamori is in charge of the Integrated Chemistry Project at the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, where he is studying the design and development of what he calls “integrated micro chemistry labs” on glass chips several centimeters in size. The system developed in cooperation with Nippon Sheet Glass controls the reaction between small quantities of chemicals by directing them inside nanoscopic trenches etched on the surface of a glass chip. The reaction is analyzed by shining two laser beams on the liquid and measuring the way the heat distorts the liquid and changes the refraction index. Nippon Sheet Glass provided the technology needed for simultaneously striking the liquid with two different types of laser light. The new system consists of the glass chip, the laser apparatus and data-processing software, and all the equipment can fit in a box that takes up a fraction of the space of a conventional system capable of similar chemical analysis.