Experimental study on 3-D analysis of contact surfaces with a digital scanning laser microscope

The authors have been interested in a scanning laser microscope (SLM) and applied it to studies of contact phenomena. In particular, a digital SLM is currently in use, and is confirmed to be a successful tool for investigating the contact phenomena. In this paper, the theory and mechanism of a digital SLM are briefly explained, and some actual data obtained with the digital SLM are presented for demonstrating its usefulness for studies of contact phenomena.