The Near and Far Future of Raman Microscopy

一段时间以来，许多高价值行业的趋势是制造越来越小的设备。这一趋势在纳米技术的发展中表现为极端的情况。这是制造几十亿米大小的设备。纳米技术有望极大地增加计算能力和内存存储，但这只是极少数。纳米技术的一个主要问题是知道你实际上已经取得了你开始做的事情！有一些技术可以使这些小物体可视化，但没有办法判断它是不是在正确的地方用正确的材料制成的，并且具有正确的功能。我们的目标是开发能够让科学家真正探索纳米设备或分子的化学和物理尺寸的技术。我们将使用非常小的金针，它可以作为光的照明棒！这些将创造非常强大和非常小的光源，我们可以立即将其放在纳米设备旁边。从光和物质的相互作用中，我们可以了解其化学指纹。针头还可以同时用来“感觉”物体的大小。这种仪器对科学家和那些对这种规模的制造感兴趣的人，特别是计算机芯片制造商来说，将具有巨大的价值。这种仪器的发展也将在实际创造纳米设备方面产生新的可能性。针尖上的光可以用来烧掉材料，从而雕刻出设备的建筑。此外，针还可以用作镊子，移动微量的材料/单分子或原子。这些可能性将给制造业和科学带来一场革命。在医学应用中，它将允许进行单细胞手术。这种工具可以切割细胞，识别并移除有故障的部件，并在移除后对细胞进行密封。在开发所述工具方面获得的知识和经验将是无与伦比的。可以预见，这种水平的知识将在其他应用领域创造新的机会。其中一个领域可能是光计算领域。这有点违反直觉，但光可以通过金属线传播！这些电线必须非常细，并由特定的材料支撑。这种光还可以沿着一串微小的金属点跳跃，可以绕过角落或穿过网络。这增加了一种可能性，那就是电路，就像那些用硅制成的今天的计算机一样，未来可能会像传输电一样传输光，甚至取代电。如果这一计划能够成功，那么几十年后，比尔·克林顿在2000年实现的目标--将美国国会图书馆中的每一条信息(约530英里长的书架上的1.3亿项信息)都存储在一个糖块大小的存储设备上--将成为可能。

For some time the trend in many high-value industries has been to manufacture ever smaller devices. This trend is shown in its extreme case in the development of nanotechnology. This is the manufacture of devices which are a few billions of a metre in size. Nanotechnology holds the promise of huge increases in computing power and memory storage to name but a very few.A major problem in nanotechnology is in knowing that you've actually made what you set out to! There are techniques which enable the visualisation of these small objects, but there are no ways to tell whether it is made of the correct materials in the right place and with the proper function. We aim to develop technologies which will allow a scientist to actually probe the chemistry as well as the physical size of a nanodevice or molecule. We'll use extremely small gold needles which can act as lighting rods for light! These will create very powerful and very small light sources which we can put immediately next to the nanodevices. From the interaction of the light and the material we can understand its chemical fingerprint. The needle can also be used at the same time to 'feel' the size of the object. This instrument would be of huge value to scientists and those interested in manufacturing on this scale, particularly the makers of computer chips.The development of this instrument will also spin-off new possibilities in the actual creation of nanodevices. The light at the needle tip could be used to burn away material allowing the sculpting of the device's architecture. Also the needle could be used as tweezers to move tiny amounts of material / single molecules or maybe atoms. These possibilities would bring about a revolution in manufacturing and science. In application to medicine it would allow single cell surgery. This tool could cut open a cell, identify and remove a faulty component and the seal-up the cell after its removal.The knowledge and experience gained in developing the tools described will be unrivalled. It can be predicted that this level of knowledge will create new opportunities in other areas of application. One such area may be the field of computing with light. It is somewhat counter-intuitive but light can be transmitted along metal wires! These wires have to be very thin and supported on specific materials. The light can also hop along a chain of tiny metal dots and can go around corners or through networks. This raises the possibility that circuits, like those made in silicon for today's computers, may in the future transmit light as well as, or even instead of, electricity. If this should succeed, then a few decades from now Bill Clinton's 2000 goal of having every piece of information contained in the US Library of Congress (130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves) stored on a memory device the size of a sugar lump will be possible.