bgz wrote:Dude... microscopes... they're in your wheelhouse, they were invented centuries ago.
You're cute. I thought you knew physics and stuff. You do realize that the human eye can't resolve anything smaller than the wavelength of visible light right? No matter how much you magnify it with optical lenses, you still can't see a virus.
Ya need an electron microscope, more specifically a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). It's a cool tool. You can probably get a bench top one for about $50k for some quick and dirty analysis but you'd be very limited on what you could do with it.
You'd also need a bunch of supporting stuff too like a vibration isolation table, computer and software specifically for it (but with your background I'm sure you could just write a script), some sample preparation stuff (including a sputtering unit - I'd recommend one that works with both gold and graphite), some training on how to use the stuff... and other stuff...
I'd be happy to spec out a compete set-up for you. I'd need a 50% up front, 25% upon delivery, 25% 90 days after installation and qualification. HockeyDad is more of the contractual business type so we can use him as the intermediary 3rd party to iron out the details.