The California NanoSystems Institute （CNSI） at UCLA （University of California, Los Angeles） - one of the major nanotechnology institutes in the United States - was the host of a two-day, AFM-Raman and TERS workshop given by Nanonics Imaging Ltd. and Renishaw, market leaders in AFM-Raman systems.

The workshop was ground-breaking in its demonstration of  Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy （TERS）, using a combination of the Nanonics' MultiView system and the Renishaw inVia Raman microscope.  

Nanonics and Renishaw were introduced as "the only companies willing to come and demonstrate TERS" by Dr. Adam Stieg, Scientific Director of the Nano and Pico Characterization Facility of CNSI. The TERS demonstration was carried out using reflection mode TERS on an opaque sample of silicon with a thin 15nm layer of strained Si （sSi） on top. The criticality of the positioning of the TERS probe in contact with the sSi thin layer was demonstrated, and the clear difference between contact and out-of-contact of the sSi Raman peak was clearly seen by all.

In addition, the workshop consisted of an exciting lecture by Nanonics CEO and Founder, Prof. Aaron Lewis on the subject: Integrated Online AFM & Raman, Synergistic Chemically Correlated Structural Tool with Ultimate Nanometric Resolution.

The workshop and lecture were met with great success and positive feedback from the participants. Among the attendees were on-campus users of the Nano and Pico Characterization Facility and off-campus interested participants, such as conservation scientists of the world-renowned J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu California.

（From the CNSI website）: The California NanoSystems Institute （CNSI） is a research center at UCLA whose mission is to encourage university collaboration with industry and to enable the rapid commercialization of discoveries in nanosystems. CNSI members who are on the faculty at UCLA represent a multi-disciplinary team of some of the world's preeminent scientists. The work conducted at the CNSI represents world-class expertise in four targeted areas of nanosystems-related research including Energy, Environment, Health-Medicine, and Information Technology.

Nanonics Imaging is the premier innovator of AFM and NSOM systems in the SPM market and the pioneer in the field since its inception in 1997. Since the founding of Nanonics fifteen years ago, it has introduced to the SPM market novel directions in the introduction of SPM technology to new horizons in fundamental and applied research. From its revolutionary approach to NSOM imaging with cantilievered NSOM fiber probes, to online tip and sample scanning AFM systems and its introduction of multiprobe AFM systems, Nanonics has led the way in the next evolution of SPM. These systems are the premier measurement tools in all photonics applications and in Raman-AFM and NSOM systems, both at room temperature and in cryogenic environments. Complimenting this portfolio of widely-applicable products are the singular solutions that Nanonics provides for AFM, SEM and FIB integration with its NanoToolKit^TM of ion/electron beam- and multiprobe-friendly SPM tips for optical, electrical, thermal and nanolithography.