Daylight Solutions wins Phase II grant to commercialize quantum cascade laser-based infrared microscope

Molecular imaging and detection solutions maker Daylight Solutions (San Diego, CA) has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will be used to advance and commercialize the company's infrared (IR) microscope platform.

Under NSF Phase I SBIR funding, the company developed a new approach to IR microscopy based on mid-IR imaging and its patented technology in broadly tunable, external-cavity quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). The integration of a high-power, tunable IR laser illumination source enables full-frame spectroscopy and chemical imaging applications with data acquisition times up to 50 times faster than traditional IR approaches, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy. The compact, benchtop microscope allows generation of full IR spectra at every pixel in an image, enabling chemical and molecular identification of samples in addition to traditional visual inspection. The integrated software suite provides features that allow for flexible data acquisition, hyperspectral imaging, data visualization and archiving, and spectral database matching for sample identification.

The NSF Phase II SBIR funding will be used for the development of a commercial prototype and to prepare for production, enabling new research and commercial capabilities in medical diagnostics, forensics, food safety, and many other market sectors, says Paul Larson, president and COO.

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