Space- and time-resolved spectroscopic analyses in micrometre dimensions

Space- and time-resolved microspectroscopies have been developed and applied to the study of inhomogeneous structures in two-dimensional (microtubes and microchannels) and three-dimensional samples (polymer microspheres and microdroplets). In this particular technique, an optical trapping method was applied successfully to elucidate the chemical and physical characteristics of individual microparticles in solution. Confocal fluorescence microspectroscopy was also shown to have sufficient potential to observe directly the ion-exchange-diffusion processes of an ion in single ion-exchange polymer microparticles. The important roles of space- and time-resolved microspectroscopy in analysing several minute samples having different sizes and shapes are described in detail. Copyright (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.