Flow cell for in situ optical microscopy in water at high temperatures and pressures up to supercritical state

A high temperature and pressure flow cell for optical microscopy has been developed. The cell is designed to allow observations at temperatures and pressures above the critical point of water (374 degreesC, 22.1 MPa) up to 400 degreesC and 35 MPa. Due to the small dimension and the effective cooling system, the cell can be installed on a conventional inverted optical microscope, and observations can be done with the optical resolution of 2 mum. A microscope system incorporating the present cell has been used successfully to observe micro-organisms under hydrothermal conditions including supercritical water.(C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.