"Fred, if I had a spare £71k kicking around I might just take you up on that challenge!" - RoyP
LOL ;-) - It wouldnt be a good investment! - Been thinking about it and have an idea that might work, but probably more like £71k just to get to theoretical proof of concept, then another £710k before any "viewing" scheme was fully evaluated, and probably a few million before a prototype product could be produced.
The idea depends on whether electrical (capacitive) fields have a physical force on atoms and molicules in the field - I suspect that the mobility of such atoms will be restricted marginally depending on field strength - If this is true, then detection of fields should be possible through lazer interferometry or something similar For example, make a loud probably untrasonic 'ping' and using lazer, plot the refraction with multiple photodetectors - any "constrained" molicules should resist the 'pings' wave more than less constrained molicules) ... I am detailing my thoughts because I know you are a engineer (chemistry) - Advice you gave privately on Magnetite was extremely useful! .. I suspect you may have better understanding of atomic behaviour of atoms in a field than I do..
But even if mobility is affected and detectable, proving this and quantifying it will take a lot of sophisticated equipment and expensive time.. £71k might do the first phase.. Actually turning this into a viewing system - anyones guess.. but simpler projects I have been involved with often ended up costing millions - often millions just for the research phase.
But I would happily accept £71k for phase one... ;-)
Fred.