Speakers
Description
Wioletta Kuśmierska-Matyszczak, PhD Eng., Aleksandra Nyga, PhD Eng., Adam Krain MSc
The lecture provides an overview of advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques used for structural and chemical characterization of materials and biological samples. It begins with the fundamentals of Raman spectroscopy, explaining the Raman effect, molecular vibrations, instrumental setup, and applications in chemical imaging and mapping. The next part introduces Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), covering its construction, operating principles, interaction types, and imaging modes for analysing surface morphology and physicochemical properties. The lecture then discusses practical applications and data correlation between Raman spectroscopy and AFM, highlighting their complementary nature and common limitations. The final part focuses on confocal microscopy, addressing both sample preparation—fixation, permeabilization, fluorescent staining, and reduction of photobleaching—and the principles of confocal imaging, including optical configuration, fluorescence phenomena, image acquisition parameters, and data analysis. Together, these topics provide a comprehensive understanding of modern microscopic and spectroscopic methods for nanoscale and microscale analysis.