LEDs

[Dan Mulvihill]

Dear Dirk

Last year I upgraded the light source on my live cell imaging fluorescence microscope (Olympus IX71 based) to LEDs which I purchased from a company called Cairn Research (http://www.cairn-research.co.uk). The system was previously illuminated using a Lambda LS 300W xenon light source coupled to the scope through an liquid light guide.

I can honestly say I was able to see the benefits over the xenon light source almost instantaneously.

The light intensity is more than bright enough for all of our live cell imaging applications (I work on molecular motors within yeast so I have to be able to capture the z series timelapse movies of faint signals very rapidly in order follow rapid movements thoughout the microbial cells we work on).

The fact that the LED has a specific spectra cuts down issues about channel bleed through, and allows you more flexibility with dichroic and emission filters.

In addition a fact that I didn't consider when purchasing the LEDs but is invaluable is that you can have precise control over the light intensity as this is controlled by voltage rather than neutral density filters, which give you only limited options.

Oh yes, I almost forgot - there is a significant benefit in cost savings over time,

(a) LED lifetime is in terms of 10s of thousands of hours vs hundeds of hours of a halogen bulb before light intensity starts to go down (in our experience anyway).

(b) New Xenon bulb - ~£400. New LED - £1.

The system I bought (http://www.cairn-research.co.uk/Products/Fluorescence/Illumination/OptoLED%20Light%20Source) allows me to use 2 LEDS (which I can swap over for LEDs of different wavelength in about 1 min) together with my Xenon light source. These are all linked through a 3 way coupling into the back of the scope. This set-up allows me to change excitation light  excitation light almost instantaneously (< 1msec), or illuminate with 3 wavelengths simultaneously, depending upon the application.

From my experiences interacting with Cairn, I can do nothing but sing their praises, as they have been extremely helpful in every step of selecting appropriate LEDs, couplings / filters for my system and applications, and are more than happy to adapt / customise / custom build couplings for your system.

Hope this is helpful, and I am happy to answer any specific queries  you may have.

Best wishes

Dan

Dan Mulvihill

Lecturer in Cell & Molecular Biology

School of Biosciences

University of Kent

Canterbury

Kent

CT2 7NJ

 

Telephone: [phone]  (Office) / 827930  (Lab)

Fax: [phone]

 

Website:     http://www.kent.ac.uk/bio/mulvihill/ 

Kent Fungal Group: http://www.kent.ac.uk/bio/kfg

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