| Microscopes |
| Stands | Upright: Axio Imager.M1, Axio Imager.Z1.m, Axioskop FS 2 MOT;
inverted: Axiovert 200 M BP (Base Port) or Axiovert 200 M SP (Side Port) |
| Z drive | Smallest z-increment
Axio Imager.Z1m : 10 nm
Axio Imager.M1: 25 nm
Axiovert 200M : 50 nm
Axioshop 2 FS : 100 nm
fast piezo focusing accessory (option) |
| HRZ 200 (option) | High-precision galvanometric fine-focusing stage;
total travelling distance 200 µm, smallest increment <10 nm |
| XY stage (option) | Motorized XY scanning stage with Mark & Find (XYZ) and Tile Scan (mosaic scan) functions; smallest increment 1 µm (Axiovert 200M) 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 | 13 x 2 speeds; line frequencies from 4 to 2600 lines/sec,
5 fps with 512 x 512 pixels (max. 77 fps with 512 x 32 pixels) |
| Scanning zoom | 0.7 x to 40 x, 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 | Up to 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,
Ar laser (458, 488, 514 nm) 25 mW;
HeNe laser (543 nm) 1 mW;
HeNe laser (633 nm) 5 mW
Diode laser (405 nm) 25 mW;
(end-of-lifetime specification) |
| Attenuation | fast (pixel-precise) individually and mutable laser adjustment of all laser lines with MOTF |
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, 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) |
| Spline scan | Scanning along a freehand defined line |
| Multitracking | Signal crosstalk in multifluorescence acquisition minimized by fast 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 |
| LSM Image VisArt | 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. |
| FRET | Acqusition of FRET (Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer) image data, followed by analysis and calculation of FRET efficiency. Software supports the Sensitized Emission methods. |
Image Browser |
| Free software | Display, editing, sorting, printing and export/import of LSM 5 images |
Subject to change