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MeiLuft
Background: video illustration, AI-generated

We make visible what light is too coarse to show.

Viruses, ultrafine dust and nanoplastics are so small that a light microscope can no longer resolve them. An electron microscope can see them – but so far only in a vacuum, after elaborate preparation, in a laboratory. MeiLuft sends the electron beam through an ultra-thin window to the sample: it stays in air or in liquid. An AI is designed to recognise the particles and run the microscope itself.

How SNIPS works See applications

Measured image: irregularly shaped powder grains, coloured blue, some areas orange.
Measured image from our test microscope with our own control system: two detectors at once, shape (structure) and material (colour). False-coloured, no scale bar.

Where the light microscope stops

A light microscope cannot resolve structures finer than about half the wavelength of light. Below that lies the range of the particles we are interested in.

Size comparison of particles between 10 micrometres and 10 nanometresBacteria measure about 1 to 2 micrometres and are visible in a light microscope. The resolution limit of the light microscope is about 200 nanometres. Viruses of around 100 nanometres, ultrafine dust below 100 nanometres and nanoplastics below 1 micrometre lie wholly or partly below it.visible only with electronsLimit of the light microscope ≈ 200 nmNanoplastics: below 1 µmUltrafine dust: below 100 nmBacterium ≈ 1–2 µmVirus ≈ 100 nm10 µm1 µm100 nm10 nm

What we do

Every day we breathe air that others have exhaled, along with particles from traffic and industry. Whether – and how much of it – is pathogens or plastic can today only be determined in a laboratory, with considerable effort. We want to make it measurable on site.

About MeiLuft

For researchers

How a scanning electron microscope forms an image, why the sample normally has to go into a vacuum, how our window avoids that – and how our approach relates to established methods, with references.

To the technology

For investors

One hardware platform, many applications: particles in industry, ultrafine dust and nanoplastics in the environment and, in the long term, pathogens in medicine. Plus Physical AI – AI that runs the microscope itself – and where we stand.

To the applications

What it is needed for

  • Particles in industry

    Seeing abrasion and contamination in manufacturing processes particle by particle, for example in semiconductor and battery production.

  • Ultrafine dust in the air

    Seeing particles individually instead of measuring averages: what they are and where they come from.

  • Nanoplastics in water

    Imaging plastic particles individually and telling them apart from other particles.

  • Medicine, in the long term

    Goal: recognising pathogens directly in the sample, for example in sepsis. Subject to regulatory approval, not a current offering.

Images: illustrations, AI-generated.

Where we stand

  1. done

    Electron optics designed

    Cross-checked with several independent calculation methods

  2. done

    Beam system tested

    In the high-vacuum test rig

  3. done

    First model

    Shown at Medica

  4. done

    Physical model

    Of the instrument, validated against published measurements

  5. done

    Test microscope

    Own electronics and software, first images, automatic particle detection

  6. done

    Manufacturing documents

    For the column of the prototype

  7. in progress

    AI for imaging and detection

    Trained on simulated images

  8. in progress

    Prototype

    The pace depends on funding

  9. planned

    Measuring in air

    Through the window, with the prototype

  10. planned

    Application studies

    And field tests with pilot partners

As of November 2026

Recognition and support

  • Research allowance Positive decision by the German certification body for the research allowance (BSFZ) for a first sub-project, 2024
  • Hohenlohe4Talents Winner 2021, featured in an SWR television report on the final
  • Medica Düsseldorf Exhibitor in 2022 and 2023 at the Baden-Württemberg start-up park “The Länd”; in 2023 included in the trade fair’s innovation report
  • Partners Baden-Württemberg International, Start-up BW, aformatik

More about the team and our site