VS-Homogenizer for VisiScope-Confocal Systems

Designed to enhance the laser illumination of Spinning Disk Confocal

This optical component can be added on request to already installed CSU-W1 confocal scan heads. The existing
functionality of the original CSU confocal head remains. This enhancement offers even illumination of large cell areas and allows high-sensitivity imaging of living cells without the need for mathematical shading correction.

Technical Background

Laser-based Microscopy generally uses gaussian beams to achieve optimal focusing of the excitation light in the sample plane. However, this requires making a trade-off between excitation uniformity and intensity. The new Visitron VS-Homogenizer tackles this challenge by providing a flat intensity profile whilst maintaining optimal focusing of the laser beam in the sample plane.

Features and Benefits

  • Uniformity improvement to 5-15% depending on used microscope equipment and used microscope optics

  • Single mode fiber coupling with minimal power loss at pinhole

  • Maintains high signal to noise ratio of standard Yokogawa CSU-W1

  • No beam conditioning unit required

Application

  • Flat Intensity Profile

  • Optimal Light Efficiency

  • Minimal Background

Application: Confocal Spinning Disk Imaging

An increasing number of live cell imaging applications requires the acquisition of large sample areas. Quantitative measurements over complete Slide Scans or Multi-Well Experiments benefit strongly from a uniform excitation intensity profile. The Visitron Homogenizer achieves this with minimal beam modifications for optimal light efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio.

Increased Field Uniformity

Comparison of Diagonal Line Scans

Result: Minimized Stitching Artifacts

13x13mm Field of View of a sCMOS camera and 63x/1.4 Oil Objective.

Scan Slide Acquisition of 6x8 images with Visitron Homogenizer.

Scan Slide Acquisition of 6x8 images with a standard Yokogawa CSU-W1 System.