What is "sarfus"

Sarfus is an optical quantitative imaging technique based on the association of:

• an upright or inverted optical microscope in crossed polarization configuration and
• specific supporting plates - called surfs - on which the sample to observe is deposited.

Sarfus visualization is based on the perfect control of the reflection properties of polarized light on a surf, which leads to increase the axial sensitivity of optical microscope by a factor of around 100 without reducing its lateral resolution. Thus this new technique increases the sensitivity of standard optical microscope to a point that it becomes possible to directly visualize thin films (down to 0.3 micrometer) and isolated nano-objects in real-time but also in air or in water.