Abrio IM
Abrio IM provides a new and powerful tool to detect stress and strain in samples. The system measures low-level birefringence in samples with retardances of 0.02nm to 273nm, such as found in glass, plastics, optical fibers, and discs.
Abrio IM imaging systems combine a unique liquid crystal-based orientation-independent polarizing light technology, controlling electronics, patented imaging algorithms and easy-to-use software to measure and analyze low-level birefringence in samples. Abrio IM systems measure retardance and slow-axis orientation per pixel in a megapixel image within seconds, compared to other methods which typically take days to achieve results.
Series of images taken of a bent silica fiber, then thin (300 nm thick) polycrystalline calcite film taken with a 40x objective: First in the image series shows a DIC image of the fiber, followed by the Abrio images of the same fiber shown as a grayscale image, an orientation-pseudocolor image and then of the aziumuth/orientation vector overlay. The calcite film series begins with a DIC image, followed by phase contrast, then by the Abrio images of the same film shown as a grayscale image, an orientation-pseudocolor image and then of the aziumuth/orientation vector overlay.
Images courtesy Rudolf Oldenbourg, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
