2018

May … started a one-year hiatus to explore new opportunities, AiDEXA GmbH being the entrepreneurial means to pursue these, set-up as an engineering bureau for mechatronics.

Odor and fragrances are presently detected in state-of-the-art Gas Chromatographic instruments. The different volatiles are separated by means of GC columns and detected sequentially at the exit of these columns. AiDEXA’s scouting activities are focused on an instrumentation platform concept meant to become a non-invasive, non-destructive and confirmatory technique, capable of separating digitally up to 3 main volatile organic composites in a fast, simultaneous and continuous flow by means of plasmonic Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

July … participation at the 17th International Meeting on Chemical Sensors 2018 in Vienna, scouting for business possibilities in electronic chemical sensing. Verified initial concepts on the detection of volatile organic compounds in water. Got interesting insights from this community of researchers.

Evaluated different optomechanical and microfluidics building blocks and realization paths over the summer months. The more time passes, a mist of self-doubt starts to get thicker. And the realization that dozens of smarter people with more money and better infrastructure are already working in this area.

September … Design review completed; orders for all parts are out! Everything took twice the time to design and does cost double as much as initially estimated. Lab room ready, everything prepared for build-up; parts start to come in; need some distance and another perspective, Schoeckel hiking tour, alone. Prospects are bright, but progress is modest.

October  … Start building up first prototype … nothing works!

November … visit of Vision trade fair in Munich … go back to start and verify functionality of every single building block for itself; new assembly workflow established and documented | spectrograph is the only part that fulfills specification, proud of this, rest is a mess, no Raman spectrum visible.             

December … quo vadis ? new lasers and Ag/Au colloids ordered

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2019

February … 91 years later on the date on which C.V. Raman recorded first Raman spectra in 1928, I recorded my first in transmission through liquid vials. Which is the relevant value of this achievement, can I scale it up and which is my right to win this?

April … verified different lasers, different liquids at different concentrations; acquired colloids are useless

May … results are modest after one year, no ideal setup found in transmission, with limits of detection LOD still far too high, detection of ultra-low concentrations by plasmonic enhancement is out of reach 

Started “AiDEXA helps” initiative offering consulting, planning, execution and support in solving spectroscopic challenges.

June 9th. … Akis, my first collaborator left, he is now in dog heaven, waiting for progress …      (27.06.2008 - 09.06.2019)

September … attended 16th Confocal Raman Imaging Symposium in Ulm; inspired by the conference, decided to change to reflective setup to enable more focused line of detection and more versatile experimentation with surface enhanced plasmonics.

November … reflective setup completed, first solids and first powders detected, but still no plasmonic effect achieved in low concentrated liquids 

December ...  | ... demo interfacing to Perception Park Studio ... | … visit at UBB in Cluj, first SERS spectra of low concentration R6G measured live by Prof. Leopold on lab equipment and myself on eRPHiX ... | … reproduced plasmonic Raman spectra on eRPHiX in home lab with Au colloids, first Raman Plasmonic Hyperspectral imaging cube recorded showing the sporadic SERS spectra of R6G diluted in Au colloid.    ......    First milestone achieved.
      | … eRPHiX is born

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