High-Speed, Three-Dimensional Object Composition Mapping Technology

摘要

This document overviews an entirely new approach to determining the composition - the chemical-elemental, isotopic and molecular make-up - of complex, highly structured objects, moreover with microscopic spatial resolution in all 3 dimensions. The front cover depicts the new type of pulsed laser system at the heart of this novel technology under adjustment by Alexis Wynne, and schematically indicates two of its early uses: swiftly analyzing the 3-D composition governed structure of a transistor circuit with both optical and mass-spectrometric detectors, and of fossilized dinosaur and turtle bones high-speed probed by optical detection means. Studying the composition-cued 3-D micro-structures of advanced composite materials and the microscopic scale composition-texture of biological tissues are two near-term examples of the rich spectrum of novel applications enabled by this field- opening analytic tool-set.