MICROSCOPY WHITE PAPERS AND CASE STUDIES
MICROSCOPY PRODUCTS
The A-142 from PI is a high-performance compact voice coil linear stage featuring air bearing guides. This product is maintenance free with an unlimited lifetime, perfect for highly dynamic applications with high duty cycles and tight volumetric constraints.
The filter wheel system can be provided as a standalone unit with a ProScan® controller. A large selection of microscope adapters are available to mount the wheels to either excitation or emission ports.
The NanoSensor® is a non-contact position measuring system based on the principle of capacitance micrometry. Two sensor plates, a Target and a Probe, form a parallel plate capacitor, to be used in metrology, stage control, microscopy, and many other applications.
The Lumen 200 from Prior Scientific retains the spectral output of traditional mercury (HBO) bulbs, yet provides vastly improved light quality. This metal halide lamp is ideal for use throughout a vast array of fluorescence applications, and can replace an HBO bulb with a minimum of both cost and disruption to the existing set-up.
Prior Scientific's PL-100/PL-200 Slide Loaders are advanced systems for automatic slide handling in a variety of microscope applications. In addition to the slide retaining design of the slide racks, a range of further safety features have been included in the units to minimize the risk of damage to slides.
Prior Scientific's NanoScan-SP range of Piezo driven stages are compatible with the Prior motorized stage as well as many common microscopes when using appropriate adapter plates. Applications for this series include live cell imaging, surface analysis, water inspection, and more.
Prior Scientific introduces the H101, the latest and most innovative motorized stage for upright microscopes. Benefits of the ProScan H101F include a completely flat top plate design, providing unlimited obstruction free space for objective and nose piece rotation.
With the ability to be utilized in many applications including materials, life sciences, and semiconductor, the PureFocus850 Laser Autofocus System by Prior Scientific is fast and easy to set up and use. This system also features the ability to autofocus on different interfaces including slides, glass bottom dishes, flow chambers and many more.
MICROSCOPY SUPPLIERS
BaySpec, Inc., founded in 1999 with 100% manufacturing in the USA (San Jose, California), is a vertically integrated spectral sensing company. The company designs, manufactures and markets advanced spectral instruments, including UV-VIS-NIR-SWIR spectrometers, benchtop and portable NIR/SWIR and Raman analyzers, confocal Raman microscopes, hyperspectral imagers, mass spectrometers, and OEM spectral engines and components, for the R&D, biomedical, pharmaceuticals, chemical, food, semiconductor, health monitoring, human & animal medical devices, and the optical telecommunications industries.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of business-to-business, industrial and consumer digital and optical imaging solutions to the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets with an increasing intent for more customized, localized products.
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Gooch & Housego provides complete optical system design, engineering and manufacturing services to the aerospace & defense, industrial, life sciences and scientific research sectors, based upon the following key enabling photonic technologies: Acousto-Optics, Crystal Optics Electro-Optics, Fiber Optics and photonic packaging, Non-Linear Optics, Precision Optics including optical polishing and coatings, as well as light measurement instrumentation and services, spectral Imaging & synthesis.
Iridian Spectral Technologies is a diversified optical filter manufacturer that is an international leader in filter design and manufacture especially for application in the fields of fiber optic communications, optical spectroscopy, 3D entertainment, and in aerospace. Iridian Spectral Technologies was ranked as one of the top 150 high technology companies in Canada in the 2011 and 2012 Branham300 rankings and won the 2010 Canada Export Achievement Award for the province of Ontario sponsored by Profit magazine together with Export Development Corporation (EDC). Iridian Spectral Technologies is a global supplier with distributors in many countries particularly in Asia.
Mad City Labs, Inc. is the leading US manufacturer of precision piezo based nanopositioning stages and nano-instrumenation. We manufacture high performance motion control instrumentation including our innovative closed loop nanopositioning systems, high stability microscopy platforms, low cost probe microscopy and metrology solutions. Our instruments are suitable for super resolution microscopy, metrology, imaging, photonics, interferometry and astronomy.
PCO-TECH Inc., founded in 1986, is a manufacturing, sales and marketing organization offering photonic instrumentation and complete systems throughout the world
Photron was founded in 1974 to provide manufacturing, sales and service of professional film and video equipment and photo-instrumentation
PI (Physik Instrumente) provides the world’s broadest range of precision motion technologies for both micro- and nano-precision applications. PI is the world’s first and largest manufacturer of piezoelectric nanopositioning technology. Started 4 decades ago as a supplier to research labs and universities, the company has grown into a business of 700+ employees and more than $100 million in global sales.
For over 30 years, Precision Optics Corporation has provided state-of-the-art optical designs, components and complete optical systems for medical, biomedical, military (ITAR complainant) and industrial applications. As next generation techniques in these areas have advanced to use smaller and less invasive tools and equipment, Precision Optics responded with microprecision™ optical technology to provide components, assemblies, and products with sizes on the order of one millimeter and smaller.
Raptor Photonics Limited is a global leader and manufacturer of high performance, industrial-grade and extremely rugged ultra-low light digital and analogue cameras.
UTC Aerospace Systems (Sensors Unlimited Products), is the world’s leading manufacturer of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)-based imaging products. As renowned experts in shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging, Sensors Unlimited, Inc. introduced the world to the concept of imaging in the shortwave IR spectrum with simple, compact, and uncooled cameras.
Xenics is a well established and rapidly growing high-tech company about to enter exciting new fields of IR products and applications, serving the markets with excellent products and a strong technology background.
Supplier of precision optics including extreme precision aspheres and freeform, meter-class flats and windows in common and exotic materials. Full electro-mechanical-optical design/prototype and manufacturing capabilities for medical, defense, military, ISR, semiconductor and industrial technology research.
MICROSCOPY NEWS
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![news8]( "PI’s New Multi-Channel Piezo Driver")
PI’s new multi-channel piezo driver is based on 5 decades of piezo transducer and controller experience and is well-suited to operate a wealth of piezoelectric transducers including scanner tubes, shear actuators, and XYZ actuators, in static and dynamic applications.
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![news]( "Prior Scientific Introduces The OpenStand Motorized Optical Stand")
A new motorized stand combined with Prior Scientific’s portfolio of automation and optical components offers a new way to develop custom optical platforms.
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Light microscopes have revolutionized our understanding of the microcosmos, but their resolution is limited to about 100 nanometers. To see how molecules bond, break, or change their structure, we need at least 1000 times better resolution.
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Deep learning is a potential tool for scientists to glean more detail from low-resolution images in microscopy, but it’s often difficult to gather enough baseline data to train computers in the process. Now, a new method developed by scientists at the Salk Institute could make the technology more accessible—by taking high-resolution images, and artificially degrading them.
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The latest developments in fluorescence microscopy make it possible to image individual molecules in cells or molecular complexes with a spatial resolution of up to 20 nanometres. However, under certain circumstances, an effect occurs that falsifies the results: the laser light used can cause very reactive oxygen molecules to form in the sample. These can then damage the fluorescent dyes used to such an extent that they no longer fluoresce. Among microscopy experts, this effect is known as photobleaching.
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The development of scanning probe microscopes in the early 1980s brought a breakthrough in imaging, throwing open a window into the world at the nanoscale. The key idea is to scan an extremely sharp tip over a substrate and to record at each location the strength of the interaction between tip and surface.
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Rice University engineers have discovered technology that could slash the cost of semiconductor electron sources, key components in devices ranging from night-vision goggles and low-light cameras to electron microscopes and particle accelerators.
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Only a few years ago, an ostensibly fundamental resolution limit in optical microscopy was superseded - a breakthrough which in 2014 led to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for super-resolution microscopy.
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In a step toward making more accurate and uniform 3D-printed parts such as personalized prosthetics and dental materials, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a method of measuring the rate at which microscopic regions of a liquid raw material harden into a solid plastic when exposed to light.
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Researchers at FAU, the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and other institutions in Paris, Hamburg and Basel, have succeeded in setting a new record in X-ray microscopy. With improved diffractive lenses and more precise sample positioning, they were able to achieve spatial resolution in the single-digit nanometre scale.
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Non-invasive microscopic techniques such as optical coherence microscopy and two-photon microscopy are commonly used for in vivo imaging of living tissues. When light passes through turbid materials such as biological tissues, two types of light are generated: ballistic photons and multiply scattered photons.
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Using modern nanotechnology, it is possible nowadays to produce structures which have a feature sizes of just a few nanometres. This world of the most minute particles – also known as quantum systems – makes possible a wide range of technological applications, in fields which include magnetic field sensing, information processing, secure communication or ultra-precise time keeping.
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Secure telecommunications networks and rapid information processing make much of modern life possible. To provide more secure, faster, and higher-performance information sharing than is currently possible, scientists and engineers are designing next-generation devices that harness the rules of quantum physics.
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There are many types of light — some visible and some invisible to the human eye. For example, our eyes and brain don’t have the tools to process ultraviolet light when it hits our eyes, making it invisible.
MICROSCOPY VIDEOS
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![4]( "Microscope Stages, Fast Focus, Nanopositioning: Enabling Super Resolution Microscopy & AFM")
Nanopositioning motion control technologies are key for the advancement of high resolution microscopy, metrology, photonics and semiconductor wafer test. A few examples are explained in the video.
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![video]( "Fast Focus Stage For SR Microscopy")
This fast, ultra-precise nano-focusing Z-stage with voice coil motor enables faster and higher precision objective focusing, leading to advancements in high resolution 2 photon fluorescence microscopy, image stack acquisition, genome sequencing, digital slide scanning and deep tissue analysis.
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![video4]( "Video: Prior Scientific Linear Motor Stage")
The HLD117 series of flat top stages with linear motor technology for inverted research microscopes set new standards for convenience and performance. Designed to seamlessly integrate with other items such as micromanipulators and incubation chambers, the top surface of the stage is completely free of obstruction. This provides a highly ergonomic platform with exceptionally easy access to the sample area.
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![video3]( "Video: PLW20 Well Plate Loader System")
Adaptable to most modern inverted microscopes, the simple, rugged and compact PLW20 provides three independently controlled and encoded axes for rotational, vertical and horizontal movement. Combine the PLW20 with a Prior ProScan stage for your inverted microscope and you have a system designed specifically for high content screening applications with a capacity of 20 well plates (two racks of 10 each).
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![video2]( "Video: Prior Scientific OEM Capabilities")
Prior Scientific offers several OEM solutions to the most challenging precision positioning devices, optical systems, automation solutions, and components. With over 99 years experience and engineering excellence, Prior is the global leader for many leading scientific instrumentation companies and research institutions.
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![video1]( "Video: Introducing The Prior PureFocus850 Laser Auto Focus System")
Prior Scientific's Simon Bush, Technical Support Specialist, introduces the PureFocus850 laser autofocus system at the Advanced Engineering Show, Birmingham. Simon explains the features and benefits of the PF850 for biological and industrial imaging. Advanced optics and intelligent in-built microprocessing provide a real-time focus system for infinity corrected optical system.
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![Introducing The pco.edge bi For Microscopy Applications - image]( "Introducing The pco.edge bi For Microscopy Applications")
Dr. Scott Metzler from PCO introduces the pco.edge 4.2 bi back illuminated camera sensor with high resolution and a 6.5 x 6.5 μm² pixel size for high-quality images with quantum efficiency up to 95%. This next-generation camera offers an extremely versatile solution for all of your microscopy needs.
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![High Speed 5 Axis Micro Drilling Scanhead In 2016]( "High Speed 5 Axis Micro Drilling Scanhead In 2016")
We were fortunate enough to meet with Taiki Iida at Canon to hear about two brand new releases.
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![Nanopositioning Applications For Microscopy, Neuroscience, And Metrology]( "Video: Nanopositioning Applications For Microscopy, Neuroscience, And Metrology")
PI provides a large variety of fast Z-Stages and collar piezo objective positioners for 3D imaging (Z-stack acquisition), deconvolution, and fast focusing applications. These Piezo nanopositioning stages & positioners are essential tools for high-resolution metrology and microscopy applications due to their sub-atomic resolution and extremely fast response times.
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![pw14-modulight.jpg]( "Stable And Low Noise CW Laser Modules")
One of Modulight’s more popular displays at Photonics West this year involved their ML6000 series of laser modules. These lasers are ideal for applications involving illumination, microscopy, optical pumping, fluorescence, and more.
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![dss13-pi-thumb.png]( "Precise Positioning Results in Higher Quality Imaging")
Stefan Vorndran with PI (Physik Instrumente) gives us a rundown of their precision positioning technology capabilities at SPIE DSS 2013.
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![nova-sensors-cameras-from-surveillance-to-microscopy.jpg]( "Nova Sensors Cameras: From Surveillance To Microscopy")
Tony Vengel, VP of business development for Nova Sensors, gives some background of his company and their cameras covering the full electromagnetic spectrum under their parent company, Teledyne Technologies.
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![ToshibaPDVideo]( "Three-Chip Cameras For Surgical Imaging, Medical Microscopy, Broadcast Applications")
Paul Dempster, director of sales and marketing for Toshiba’s Imaging Systems Division, walks us through their three-chip industrial camera offerings at Photonics West 2013.
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![pdldvideo]( "New Green Laser For Raman Spectroscopy, Flow Cytometry, Confocal Microscopy")
Bob Struthers of PD-LD introduces us to its new 530nm green laser at Photonics West 2013.
