• news.cision.com/
  • Chalmers/
  • A platform of gold reveals the forces of nature’s invisible glue/
  • In the lab at Chalmers, doctoral student Michaela Hošková shows a glass container filled with millions of micrometre-sized gold flakes in a salt solution. Using a pipette, she picks up a drop of the solution and places it on a gold-coated glass plate in an optical microscope. What happens is that the gold flakes in the salty solution are immediately attracted to the substrate but leave nanometre-sized optical spaces between them and the gold platform. The cavities created in the liquid act as resonators in which light bounces back and forth, displaying colours.  When the microscope’s halogen lamp illuminates the platform and a spectrometer separates the wavelengths, the different colours of light can be identified.

In the lab at Chalmers, doctoral student Michaela Hošková shows a glass container filled with millions of micrometre-sized gold flakes in a salt solution. Using a pipette, she picks up a drop of the solution and places it on a gold-coated glass plate in an optical microscope. What happens is that the gold flakes in the salty solution are immediately attracted to the substrate but leave nanometre-sized optical spaces between them and the gold platform. The cavities created in the liquid act as resonators in which light bounces back and forth, displaying colours.  When the microscope’s halogen lamp illuminates the platform and a spectrometer separates the wavelengths, the different colours of light can be identified.


Photographer: Chalmers University of Technology | Mia Halleröd Palmgren

Low resolution

Medium resolution

Original resolution

About Us

Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level. The university has 3100 employees and 10,000 students, and offers education in engineering, science, maritime studies and architecture. With scientific excellence as a basis, Chalmers promotes knowledge and technical solutions for a sustainable world. Through global commitment and entrepreneurship, we foster an innovative spirit, in close collaboration with wider society.Chalmers was founded in 1829 and has the same motto today as it did then: Avancez – forward. --- Images provided in Chalmers University of Technology press releases are, unless specified otherwise, free for download and publication as long as credit is given to the University and the individual creator. Cropping and rescaling of the images is permitted when required for adaptation to the publication’s format, but modifications that would influence the message and content of the original are not. The material is primarily intended for journalistic and informative use, to assist in communication and coverage of Chalmers’ research and education. Commercial usage, for example the marketing of goods and services, is not permitted. We kindly request credit to be given in the following format where possible: Image/Graphic/Illustration: Chalmers University of Technology | Name Surname

Subscribe