UV/Vis Light Sources

Metal Halide Light Source

Bright, stable, long life lamp, no alignment required, optional filter wheel

A 200 Watt DC stabilized metal halide light source with 2,000 hours lamp life. Support from Andor iQ and 3rd party software make this a flexible and efficient source for a broad range of applications. The easily replaced lamp and liquid light guide provide broadband excitation (UV-Vis-NIR) with no alignment and offers outstanding uniformity.

Andor metal-halide light source includes a fast 6-position internal filter wheel providing a cost effective, integrated epi-illumination package.

Features

• Wavelength range 320 - 700 nm
• ~ 60 ms switching speed (filter wheel)
• Motorized intensity/shutter, 0% - 100%, 1% resolution, 40 ms Open/Close
• Optical coupling, UV/Vis liquid light guide, NA 0.22, length 2 m (optional 3 m)
• Light source, 200 W stabilized metal halide lamp
• Lamp lifetime typically 2000 hours
• USB interface
• DSD Compatible

2. Polychrome 5

Ultra-flexible excitation tuning with fast switching

When total spectral flexibility is called for we recommend the TILL Photonics Polychrome 5, an ultra-fast and versatile switching monochromator for fluorescence microscopy. Fully supported by Andor iQ and in concert with our award winning EMCCD cameras, Polychrome provides the flexibility to optimize excitation wavelength and signal to noise ratio under challenging experimental conditions. Speed, stability and brightness combine to deliver high quality data from living cells.

Features

• Wavelength range 320 - 680 nm (Xenon 150 W)
• Galvo-mounted diffraction grating with switching time ≈ 2 ms
• Programmable bandwidth option 2 - 15 nm
• Programmable intensity option 0 - 100% - 10% resolution
• Quartz Light Guide coupling
• Flexibility for fast ion imaging
• Analog, RS232 control interfaces

Recent studies show that live cell specimens suffer far less photo-toxicity under LED illumination, whose spectral emission is constrained compared to a conventional broadband light sources, such as Mercury or Metal Halide. In conventional light sources even high quality filtering allows some UV leakage and resultant photo-toxic effects – such as cell death or aberrant behavior. In contrast LED’s result in longer life and many cycles of cell division (see Video Clip), a useful measure of cells’ functional competence. Photo-toxicity can be reduced further by minimizing specimen exposure using fast shuttering synchronized with CCD or EMCCD cameras.

Thanks to our global reach, we can now deliver everywhere bundled solutions offering excellent value for money and the outstanding performance from all Andor Technology products:

3. CoolLED pE

LED light source for fluorescence microscopes

The CoolLED illuminator is directly integrated with Andor’s state of the art EMCCD cameras, iQ software and workstation for optimal performance and minimal exposure.

The brightest, most stable LED source available for microscopy (efficiency is typically >10 times greater than conventional sources), CoolLED is coupled via liquid light guides that collect light directly from one LAM, and a custom combiner/collimator couples into the microscope epi-fluorescence port. Wavelengths from 350 - 770 nm are available.

• Wavelength range 365 - 770 nm (band limited)
• Switching time 300 μs in TTL control, 50 ms USB
• No UV bleed-through – best for long term time-lapse
• Programmable intensity 0 - 100% - 1% resolution
• 2, 3, 4 LED wavelength versions
• Liquid Light Guide coupling
• TTL and USB control interfaces