Pittcon Editor Choice Gold Award

True Surface Microscopy won Gold for WITec at the Editor’s Award for the most outstanding new product at the conference. True Surface Microscopy was chosen due to its ability to simplify the Raman Imaging process on large, rough or inclined samples.

“We are absolutely delighted and nearly overwhelmed to receive such a well respected award,” said Dr Joachim
Koenen, Managing Director of WITec. “This is a great motivation to continue our successful philosophy of constantly
introducing new technologies to provide our customers with cutting edge technology for their research.”

Due to the importance and scale of Pittcon, WITec had chosen the exhibition to showcase its True Surface Microscopy for the first time in the US. WITec´s new True Surface Microscopy mode allows confocal Raman imaging guided by
surface topography. True Surface Microscopy follows the surface topography with high precision, so that even rough or inclined samples always stay in focus while performing confocal Raman imaging. To achieve this unique capability, the WITec alpha500 series integrates a highly precise sensor for optical profilometry. The topographic coordinates from the profilometer measurement are used to perfectly follow the sample surface in confocal Raman imaging mode. The result is an image revealing optical or chemical properties at the surface of the sample, even if this surface is very rough or heavily inclined. On such surfaces this information was only partially accessible thus far and with the new imaging mode, samples that had previously required extensive preparation in order to obtain a certain surface flatness can now be effortlessly and automatically characterised as they are.

WITec shared the top honour with Leco as their Citius LC-HRT was also deemed as deserving Gold. The Citius LC-HRT represents a substantive innovation in High Performance Mass Spectrometers for the LCMS market. The
system utilises LECO’s Folded Flight Path™ (FFP™) technology to provide full-range mass spectra at speeds of over 100 spectra per second, and resolutions of up to 100,000 with high-performance mass accuracy. The system provides the versatility of ESI, APCI, and DESI (desorption electrospray) ionisation sources as options to complement its high-performance MS capabilities and unchallenged dynamic range.

“The Citius LC-HRT system provides high integrity, high information-content mass-spectral performance, with the data analysis tools our customers have come to expect from Leco,” said Jeff Patrick, Separation Science Product Specialist, Leco Corporation. “Leco is very pleased to offer an LC-TOFMS package that requires no compromise in speed, resolution, mass accuracy, or dynamic range.”