High power red and green LEDs for fluorescence microscopy

Prizmatix has added 520-nm and 630-nm ultra high power LEDs to its modular OptiBlocks family. The LEDs can be used as excitation sources for fluorescence microscopy. The UHP-Mic-LED-520 provides greater than 0.5 Watts of collimated green LED output power and its LED driver supports CW or pulsed operation. The UHP-Mic-LED-630 provides greater than 1 W of collimated red LED ouput power. Both are compatible with Prizmatix modular microscope LED light source products, and allow narrowing of the LED spectrum with an optional band pass filter installed in the head. The light sources can also be used for small animal imaging, photoactivation, FRAP, and FISH.

More information at www.prizmatix.com.

Microscope illuminator for multicolor TIRF imaging

Olympus has released the cell^TIRF illuminator. The system has four motorized laser channels for simultaneous image capture and allows instant setting and confirmation of the precise TIRF angle. Each of the four individually controlled laser inputs is optimally focused and the angle of each can be adjusted so that all wavelengths have the same penetration depth. Calculated penetration depths can be preset for all four lasers and used with a single mouse click; the system will automatically adjust the angle of each laser to simultaneously capture TIRF from all four channels. In addition, one laser line can be adjusted for FRAP experiments, and users can easily switch to widefield view and then reestablish TIRF imaging in less than 500 ms.

More information here.