A setup for the characterization of liquids with the perspective of monitoring crystallization processes is presented. The novelty of this setup is the realization of viscosity and conductivity measurements using two quartz crystal microbalances. Additionally, there is the possibility to apply an electric field through the sample, enabling the manipulation of charged particles. The results show that the measured values are in reasonable agreement with values from the literature or standards.

We investigated the feasibility of indium tin oxide (ITO) as an alternative plasmonic material to replace noble metals for sensing applications in the mid-infrared region. An ITO-based plasmonic slot waveguide was numerically designed and analysed for a wavelength of 4.26 µm, which is the absorption band of CO₂. As the proposed structure shows low propagation lengths, we concluded that ITO appears not to be an appropriate candidate for plasmonic waveguiding systems.