Laser scanning confocal microscope with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

一种用于荧光相关光谱（FCS）和共聚焦显微镜的装置。其目的是研究表面和界面附近的流动和运输现象。通过微米或纳米尺度上的几何或化学结构化，可以设计表面和界面，使它们具有某些所需的特性，例如降低的流动阻力或增强或降低的润湿性。这些性质是控制和提高流体输送或过程工程中过程效率的关键。为了能够研究这些过程的物理机制，从而能够以有针对性的方式设计这样的表面，需要一种测量技术，该测量技术可以在与表面的结构化相同的尺度上（即，在微米和亚微米范围上）解析表面上的流动。这也包括在靠近表面的该范围内进行测量的必要性。FCS满足这两个标准。与FCS相比，基于颗粒的测量技术是有限的，例如，因为颗粒尺寸必须是光学可达的，但不应影响流动，而颗粒尺寸通常与表面结构具有相同的数量级。从技术上讲，FCS始终建立在共聚焦显微镜的基础上，因此显微成像是该设备的另一个关键特性。除了FCS之外，这种特性还需要用于研究表面上的流体，特别是可视化功能化表面上的润湿性或相变过程。首先，该装置应该提供一个基础，建立一个研究小组，研究流动和运输过程接近表面。具体而言，该提案与Emmy Noether计划中的提案“微尺度系统中的Marangoni推进-将表面张力梯度转化为运动的原理和潜力”有关。该建议旨在研究靠近微结构界面的新型光和热驱动流及其适用性。第二，涉及过程工程的进一步研究小组。对于他们的研究，FCS和共焦成像非常适合，并且在短期和长期都需要。总体而言，多物理问题是所有研究的核心，例如耦合传热和流动过程，这对于开发高效传热技术或生物反应器及其优化过程的局部影响因素至关重要。

A device for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and confocal microscopy is applied for. The aim is the investigation of flow and transport phenomena in close vicinity of surfaces and interfaces. By geometric or chemical structuring on the micro- or nanometer scale, surfaces and interfaces can be designed such that they possess certain desired properties, such as a reduced flow resistance or enhanced or reduced wettability. Such properties are keys to controlling and enhancing the efficiency of processes in fluid transport or process engineering. To be able to investigate the physical mechanisms underlying these processes and thereby to be able to design such surfaces in a targeted manner, a measurement technique is required that can resolve the flow over the surface on the same scale as the structuring of the surface, i.e. on the micro- and sub-micrometer range. This also includes the necessity to measure within this range close to a surface. FCS fulfills both of these criteria. In contrast to FCS, particle-based measurement techniques are limited, e.g. because of the particle size which has to be optically accessible, but should not influence the flow while the particle size is often of the same order of magnitude as the surface structures. Technically, FCS always builds upon a confocal microscope, such that microscopic imaging is another key property of the device. Beyond FCS, this property is required for the investigation of fluids on surfaces, especially to visualize processes in wettability or phase change on functionalized surfaces. First, the device is supposed to provide a basis to build up a research group that investigates flow and transport processes close to surfaces. Specifically, this proposal is connected to a proposal in the Emmy Noether program „Marangoni propulsion in microscale systems – principle and potential of transferring surface tension gradients into motion“. This proposal aims at the investigation of new types of optically and thermally driven flows close to microstructured interfaces and their applicability. Second, further research groups in process engineering are involved. For their research, FCS and confocal imaging are excellently suited and needed both in the short and long term. Overall, multiphysical questions are at the heart of all investigations, such as coupled heat transfer and flow processes that are essential for the development of efficient heat transfer technologies or local influence factors on processes in bioreactors and their optimization.