| Microscopes |
| Stands | Upright: Axio Imager.Z1, Axio Imager.M1, Axioskop FS 2 MOT;
inverted: Axio Observer (Base Port or Side Port) |
| Z drive | Smallest Z-increment
Axio Imager.Z1m : 10 nm
Axio Imager.M1: 25 nm
Axio Observer : 10 nm
Axioskop 2 FS : 50 nm |
| XY stage (option) | Motorized XY scanning stage with Mark & Find (XYZ) and Tile Scan (mosaic scan) functions; smallest increment 1 µm (Axio Observer) or 0.2 µm (Axio Imager) |
| Accessories (option) | High-resolution digital AxioCam microscope camera;
incubation chambers, micromanipulators, etc. |
Scanning module |
| Models | Choice of one or two confocal channels |
| Scanner | Two independent galvanometric scanning mirrors for rotation, zoom, offset |
| Scanning resolution | 4x1 to 2048x2048 pixels, user-definable |
| Scanning speed | Standard mode: scalable imaging of up to 4 dyes, e.g. 0.85 fps with 1024x768 pixels
Fast mode: scalable imaging of up to 2 dyes, e.g. 27 fps with 512x96 pixels
Step mode: scalable imaging of up to 2 dyes, e.g. 154 fps with 512x32 (binned) pixels
Line scan mode: scalable in 13 speeds from 4 to 2600 lines/s with 512x1 pixels |
| Scanning zoom | 0.5x to 30x, variable in steps of 0.1 |
| Scanning rotation | Free rotation through 360 degrees,
variable in steps of 1 degree |
| Scanning field | Field diagonal 18 mm (max.) in the intermediate image plane,
homogeneous field illumination |
| Pinhole | 1 confocal pinhole, continuously variable diameter, preadjusted |
| Detection | Two confocal fluorescence/reflection channels with short, efficient beam paths, all equipped with highly sensitive PhotoMultiplier Tubes (PMT)
Option: transmitted-light channel with PMT; |
| Data depth | Selectable between 8 bit and 12 bit |
Laser Modules |
| Lasers | Polarization-preserving single-mode fiber,
MOTF for simultaneous intensity control of up to 4 visible-light laser lines,
Diode laser (405 nm) 25 mW;
HeNe laser (543 nm) 1 mW;
HeNe laser (633 nm) 5 mW
(end-of-lifetime specification) |
| Attenuation | fast (pixel-precise) individually and mutable laser adjustment of all laser lines with AOTF |
Electronics Module |
| LSM 5 Control | Control of the microscope, the VIS and UV laser modules, the scanning module and further accessories.
Monitoring of data acquisition and synchronization by a Digital Signal Processor (DSP).
Data exchange between DSP and computer via ultra-wide SCSI |
| Computer | High-end PC with ample RAM and hard disk storage capacity, ergonomic high-resolution TFT flat-panel display, many accessories;
Windows XP operating system with multi-user capability |
Standard Software |
| System configuration | Convenient control and configuration of all moto-driven microscope functions, the laser modules and scanning module;
saving and retrieval of application-specific configurations |
| ReUse function | Restoration of acquisition parameters per mouse click |
| Acquisition modes | Spot, line/spline, frame, ROI, z-stack, time series and combinations: xy, xyz, xyt, xyzt, xz, xt, xzt, Spot-t.
On-line computation and presentation of ratio images;
averaging and summation (linewise or framewise, configurable);
Step Scan (for higher frame rates, configurable) |
| Crop function | Convenient selection of scanning ranges (simultaneous zoom, offset and rotation) |
| ROI scan | Scanning of up to 99 regions of interest (ROIs) of any shape, and blanking of the lasers |
| Spline scan | Scanning along a freehand defined line |
| Multitracking | Signal crosstalk in multifluorescence acquisition minimized by fast line- or framewise change between excitation lines |
| Image display | Orthogonal view (xy, xz, yz in one view), cut view (3D section made under a freely definable spatial angle), 2.5D view for time series of line scans, projections (stereo, maximum, transparent) for single frames and series (animations), depth coding (pseudo-color presentation of height information), brightness and contrast variation, off-line interpolation for Z stacks, selection and modification of color lookup tables (LUTs), drawing functions for documentation |
| Image analysis | Advanced tools for colocalization and scatter plot analysis with individual parameters and options, profile measurement on straight lines and curves of any shape, measurement of lengths, angles, areas, intensities, and many other capabilities |
| Image processing | Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, ratioing, shift, filters
(low pass, median, high pass, etc., or user-definable) |
| Image archiving, export, import | LSM image database with comfortable functions for managing images together with the associated aquisition parameters;
Multiprint function for creating assembled image-plus-data views;
more than 20 file formats (TIF, BMP, JPG, PSD, PCX, GIF, AVI,
Quicktime …) for compatibility with all common image processing programs |
Software Options |
| Image VisArt plus | Fast 3D and 4D reconstruction and animation
(shadow projection, transparency projection, surface rendering) |
| 3D Deconvolution | Image restoration based on computed point spread functions
(nearest neighbor, maximum likelihood, constraint iterative) |
| Multiple Time Series | Complex time series with varied application-specific configurations |
| 3D for LSM | 3D recontruction, thresholding, processing and measurement (surface, volume, particle count) |
| Physiology | Comprehensive software for the analysis of time series, graphic mean-of-ROI analyses, on-line and off-line calibration of ion concentrations |
| Topography | Visualization of 3D surfaces (fast rendering modes), plus measurement functions (roughness, waviness, surface areas, volumes) |
| VBA Macro Editor | Edit and execution of routines for automation of scanning and analysis functions |
| Visual Macro Editor | Creation and editing of macros with representative icons for programming routine procedures. |
| FRAP | Menu guidance for recording FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching) experiments. |
| FRET plus | Acqusition of FRET (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer) image data, followed by analysis and calculation of FRET efficiency. Software supports the Acceptor Photobleaching and Sensitized Emission methods. |
Image Browser |
| Free software | Display, editing, sorting, printing and export/import of LSM 5 images |
Subject to change