From 1974 to 2024, discover the history of Microtrac as a pioneer and founder company in Laser Diffraction technology.
Many modern analytical instruments use light in different ways to interrogate materials and processes to characterize their properties and optimize their production and application effectiveness. Most of the methodologies using light are all based on the original pioneering work of the great physicists working on the nature of light in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Over 100 years ago in 1916, Albert Einstein published "On the Quantum Theory of Radiation". It is generally accepted that in this paper Einstein laid out the basis for the modern laser. In his “History of Physics” series, Norbert Straumann of Zurich University describes in detail the extraordinary advances in our understanding of the nature of light made in that paper.
While Einstein could postulate the principles of how a laser worked, it would not be until 1960 that the first laser was developed and constructed in the Hughes Research Laboratories in the United States by Theodore H. Maiman. He achieved this based on the theoretical work of Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow.
As soon as lasers became generally available, researchers began exploring practical applications for their use. Leeds and Northrup Corporation of North Wales, Pennsylvania in the US specialized in measurement technology and process control instrumentation. Over the years, Leeds and Northrup introduced groundbreaking technologies in temperature measurement, the world’s first non-glass pH sensor, and ultrasonic flow meters among many other firsts. In their innovation center in North Wales, they began researching the use of lasers in determining the particle size of powders and emulsions. Until then, the customary way to measure particle size was with sieves (dating back over four thousand years) or various sedimentation methods.
In 1974 Leeds and Northrup delivered the first instrument to use Laser Diffraction to measure Particle Size Distributions.
MICROTRAC was born. The US patent 3,873,206 was granted in early 1975.
The first Microtrac model 7991 had a measuring range of 2 to 176 microns in an aqueous slurry. It used a HE-NE gas laser, and the diffraction patterns were measured on a rotating detector.
In the picture: David Kremer, who only retired from Microtrac in 2022, installing the first unit at Bethlehem Steel.
Since then, Microtrac has stayed at the forefront of Laser Diffraction Technology in Particle Sizing. We have always looked at the latest technological advances and incorporated them into our instrumentation, continually delivering "firsts." In 1975, Microtrac performed the first laser diffraction measurement in a dry powder. As far back as 1987, Microtrac was the first to use solid-state laser diodes rather than traditional gas lasers. In 2018, the release of the SYNC analyzer incorporated a synchronous measurement of laser diffraction and dynamic image analysis delivering unsurpassed information on size and shape to the user.
The story continues...
Join us as we celebrate 50 years of laser diffraction by Microtrac.
