Point Source Launches Violet & Blue Fiber-Coupled Lasers
Stable output, low noise
One of these new systems is a violet laser and beam delivery system at 405nm that provides a reliably stable output with low noise. The system utilises Point Source's proven proprietary iFLEX technology, which is already well established in the international confocal laser scanning microscopy market. Alongside the violet laser is the new ‘true blue' fiber-coupled laser system at 440nm. This is based on the new laser diode from Nichia and, the company expects, will be a much-welcomed alternative to Argon and He Cad lasers.
Violet 405nm – drug development research? beam shaping?
The launch of the violet 405nm laser and beam delivery system follows research undertaken at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, that was led by Dr John Girkin. The Strathclyde team looked at the successful application of the violet laser diode in researching calcium-ion indicators, stains for gluthathione, and fluorphores that are currently excited at 488 nm and 351nm and have absorption wings around 400nm.
It was discovered that, due to the astigmatism of the laser diode, beam shaping plays an important part in optimizing the resolution and contrast of biological images. It does this by achieving a better fill of the objective lens, to provide a tighter focus within the sample and improve axial resolution. The Point Source solution employs a polarization-maintaining fiber that provides a circular, Gaussian, single mode, collimated TEM00 beam direct to the confocal head from a remotely cited laser.
Equivalent performance to scanning electron microscopes
Confocal techniques allow sharp 3-D reflected or fluorescence imaging of objects, and the new Point Source 405nm fiber-coupled laser enables these systems to reach resolution barriers traditionally the exclusive domain of scanning electron microscopes. 3-D images can be displayed up to 50,000 times with a resolution of 40nm.
Semiconductors and optical devices - such as Bragg gratings and optical filters – that normally collect charge under an electron beam can, with the new Point Source technology, now be easily imaged at high magnification and without gold coating or vacuum inspection conditions. Point Source's flexible beam delivery, coupled with low beam pointing error, enables accurate registration and detection of defects in materials with small characteristics, such as 0.13µm semiconductor devices.
The technology also has applications in the manufacture of aspheric DVD pick up lenses, where the adoption of the 405nm laser diode has necessitated the development of suitable optics.
Further information on Point Source and their cutting edge flexible laser technology can be found on their website at www.point-source.com