sCMOS Camera supports Light Sheet microscopy.
Press Release Summary:
Available for Zyla 4.2 sCMOS Camera, LightSheet PLUS feature set ensures end-user has control over rolling shutter scanning mode. It allows user to synchronize scanning of illumination beam to sheet to defined scan row height on sensor. Image quality is optimized since scan row height can act as slit detector, rejecting scattered light and improving contrast and SNR. FlexiScan allows user to maximize signal and confocality concurrently, while CycleMax ensures minimum deadtime between scans.
Original Press Release:
Andor launches LightSheet PLUS with FlexiScan and CycleMax for Zyla 4.2
Providing additional control and flexibility to the end user
Belfast — Andor Technology, an Oxford Instruments company and world leader in scientific imaging and spectroscopy solutions, today announced the launch of LightSheet PLUS for Zyla 4.2, a new feature set which ensures the end-user has more control and flexibility over the functionality of the rolling shutter scanning mode. LightSheet PLUS is perfectly suited to the applications of Light Sheet microscopy and Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy.Â
The bulk of light sheet microscopy applications today investigate the development of living embryos and the samples under examination can be relatively large and thick. By virtue of this, it can be quite difficult to acquire highly resolved images due to the scattering of light and low contrast in such samples. One proposed alternative approach is to sweep a laser beam across the focal plane, resulting in a planar illumination equivalent to a sheet but with improved illumination efficiency and uniform intensity distribution. LightSheet PLUS functionality allows the user to synchronize the scanning of their illumination beam to sheet to a defined scan row height on the sensor. Image quality is improved since the scan row height can act as a slit detector, rejecting scattered light, improving contrast and SNR, therefore providing sharper and more resolved images.
LightSheet PLUS allows the user to scan their illumination beam from the top to the bottom of the sensor or vice versa in one continuous sweep. Further control is available through FlexiScan, a feature of LightSheet PLUS, which allows the user to maximize signal and confocality concurrently. With this feature the user has three parameters that they can independently adjust: the scan row height (slit width), scan speed (#lines/ms) and the exposure time.
LightSheet PLUS provides multiple different readout directions, allowing the user further flexibility. Of particular benefit is the unique CycleMax feature, which can be utilised to ensure minimum deadtime between scans by enabling the laser sweep and the corresponding rolling shutter ‘virtual slit’ scan direction to alternate from top-bottom to bottom-top. This, therefore, avoids the need to reset the laser to the same starting position for each subsequent image.
Dr Orla Hanrahan, Andor’s Application Specialist in Life Science Imaging, said, “The addition of LightSheet PLUS with FlexiScan and CycleMax is a great advantage to the research community, especially those working in the area of light sheet microscopy. This new feature set provides independent control of the slit row height, scan speed and exposure time on Zyla 4.2 and enables multiple different readout directions at the maximum frame rate. This feature will allow the user to reduce background and improve contrast and resolution in thick, scattering samples.”
To learn more about LightSheet PLUS please visit http://www.andor.com/zyla
Enquiries:
For further information please contact Victoria Gault on +44 (0)28 9023 7126, email press@andor.com, or visit http://www.andor.com.
About Andor
Andor is a global leader in the pioneering and manufacturing of high performance scientific imaging cameras, spectroscopy solutions and microscopy systems for research and OEM markets. Andor has been innovating the photonics industry for over 20 years and continues to set the standard for high performance light measuring solutions, enabling its customers to break new ground by performing light measurements previously considered impossible. Andor’s digital cameras, are allowing scientists around the world to measure light down to a single photon and capture events occurring within 1 billionth of a second.
Andor now has over 400 staff across 16 offices worldwide, distributing products to over 10,000 customers in 55 countries. Andor’s products are used in a wide range of applications including medical research to further the understanding of heart disease, cancer and neuronal diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Andor also has applications for forensic science and astronomy. Through continuous dialogue with customers and strong teamwork, Andor continues to innovate ground-breaking products that improve the world in which we live.
About Oxford Instruments plc
Oxford Instruments designs, supplies and supports high-technology tools and systems with a focus on research and industrial applications. Innovation has been the driving force behind Oxford Instruments' growth and success for over 50 years, and its strategy is to effect the successful commercialisation of these ideas by bringing them to market in a timely and customer-focused fashion.
The first technology business to be spun out from Oxford University, Oxford Instruments is now a global company with over 2300 staff worldwide and is listed on the FTSE250 index of the London Stock Exchange (OXIG). Its objective is to be the leading provider of new generation tools and systems for the research and industrial sectors with a focus on nanotechnology. Its key market sectors include nano-fabrication and nano-materials. The company’s strategy is to expand the business into the life sciences arena, where nanotechnology and biotechnology intersect.
This involves the combination of core technologies in areas such as low temperature, high magnetic field and ultra high vacuum environments; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; x-ray, electron, laser and optical based metrology; atomic force microscopy; optical imaging; advanced growth, deposition and etching.
Oxford Instruments aims to pursue responsible development and deeper understanding of our world through science and technology. Its products, expertise, and ideas address global issues such as energy, environment, security and health.
