OmegaScope

The HORIBA OmegaScope is a flagship combined AFM and confocal Raman spectroscopy system from HORIBA Scientific designed specifically for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) and advanced nanoscale chemical imaging. TERS is a powerful technique that uses a metallic AFM tip as a nanoscale antenna: when illuminated by a laser at the junction between the AFM tip apex and the sample surface, the electromagnetic field is enhanced by plasmon excitation at the tip, boosting the Raman scattering signal from the underlying molecules by several orders of magnitude. This enhancement is confined to the nanometer-scale tip-sample junction, providing chemical (Raman) information with spatial resolution of 10 nm or better – far beyond the diffraction limit of conventional Raman spectroscopy. The OmegaScope is built on a dedicated TERS-optimized AFM platform with side-illumination optics for efficient laser delivery to the tip-sample junction from the side (in gap mode for opaque samples). It is designed to be integrated with HORIBA’s LabRAM confocal Raman systems, combining their high-sensitivity spectrometers and laser sources with the OmegaScope’s TERS-capable AFM. The OmegaScope supports TERS mapping (chemical images at nanoscale resolution), nanoscale Raman spectroscopy at specific surface sites, and near-field optical microscopy (SNOM). Applications include: TERS identification of single molecules and molecular monolayers, nanoscale chemical mapping of heterogeneous catalysts, semiconductor device characterization (strain mapping at interfaces), and nano-Raman spectroscopy of 2D materials (graphene, MoS2, hBN). NewRoad provides the HORIBA OmegaScope in Israel for leading materials science, nanoscience, and surface chemistry research groups.