Electromagnetic Radiation and Interactions with Matter
Authors: Kotlarchyk Michael 
Published: October 2003

All imaging systems map some spectroscopic property of the imaged object onto a detector. In a large fraction of imaging modalities, the imaged object directly or indirectly emits, reflects, transmits, or scatters electromagnetic (EM) radiation for example, in radar and remote sensing systems, radio astronomy, optical microscopy, X‐ray and positron‐emission tomography, fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and telescope‐based systems, to name but a few areas. This chapter addresses the following broad topics:

The basic nature and associated properties common to all types of EM radiation.

How radiation from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is generated.

The dispersion, absorption, and scattering of radiation in bulk material media.

Reflection and transmission at a material interface.

Interference and diffraction by collections of apertures or obstacles.

The mechanisms responsible for emitting, absorbing, and scattering EM radiation at atomic, molecular, and nuclear levels.

This treatment in this chapter in no way attempts to compete with the many fine comprehensive and detailed references available on each of these a subjects. Instead, the aim is just to highlight some of the central facts, formulas, and ideas important for understanding the character of electromagnetic radiation and the way it interacts with matter.

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is one of a number of scanned probe microscope (SPM) techniques invented following the demonstration of the scanning tunneling microscope. The use of an electrochemical process for image formation defines SECM. In most applications of the method, an ultramicroelectrode (UME) is used as the probe and the probe signal is the Faradaic current arising from the electrolysis of solution species. In other cases, the use of an ion‐selective electrode (ISE) as the probe provides a probe signal proportional to the logarithm of the activity of an ion in solution (eg., pH). In SECM, the primary interaction between probe tip and sample is mediated by diffusion of solution species between the sample and the tip of the probe, which distinguishes SECM from other SPM methods that may use an electrochemically active probe. An electrochemically active probe permits a versatile range of experiments, an essential aspect of which is chemical sensitivity or control of chemical processes occurring at a substrate surface.

Forming an image in an SPM technique requires that the probe signal be perturbed in a reproducible fashion by some aspect of the imaged substrate. There are two principal imaging‐forming mods in SECM: feedback and generation/collection (GC). The feedback mode uses the Faradaic current that flows from electrolysis of an intentionally‐added or naturally‐present mediator species at an UME probe.

Imaging in the feedback mode provides topographic images of blocking or conducting surfaces. Images of many types of surfaces have been obtained in the feedback mode; examples include images of electrodes, polymer films, and immiscible liquid interfaces.

It is possible to manipulate the SECM imaging conditions to produce images representing chemical and electrochemical activity.

The generation/collection (GC) mode uses the probe to detect changes in concentration of a chemical species at the surface of the imaged material. Ideally, the probe acts as a passive sensor to produce concentration maps of a particular chemical species near the substrate surface. GC mode imaging is described further by the type of sensing probe used. In amperometric GC imaging, the probe is an UME, which detects species by electrolysis. First reported as a method to map electrochemically active areas on electrodes, amperometric GC is sued to make high‐resolution chemical concentration maps of corroding metal surfaces, biological materials, and polymeric materials. In addition, measurements of ion fluxes through porous materials, such as skin and dental material, are useful applications. In potentiometric GC imaging, the probe is an ISE, which has the advantage of increased sensitivity fo nonelectoractive ions and improved selectivity for imaging a desired ion concentration.