Liquid light guide life
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We now have several light sources that have liquid light guide connections to the microscope (Exfo, Sutter, Intensilight). I have heard that the guide itself can be damaged by having the excitation source constantly pouring into it when not in use. Thus it seems that putting a shutter in the source rather than at the end of the guide or in the microscope would be advantageous to save guide life. My question is whether this problem is lore or is there some actual data on guide lifetime with and without a pre-guide shutter. We are considering swapping our Nikon Intensilight for the RS-232 shuttered version if there is truth to the rumor. Thanks- Dave
Dr. David Knecht Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Co-head Flow Cytometry and Confocal Microscopy Facility U-3125 91 N. Eagleville Rd. University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 06269 860-486-2200 860-486-4331 (fax) |
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With a shutter upstream of the liquid light guide definitely will benefit the life time of the light guide. But in general, a light guide has relatively long life time and cheap price tag, one must decide if it is worth it to invest on a shutter.
Tao
On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 3:00 PM, David Knecht <[hidden email]> wrote:
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Commercial Interest
If you are considering changing light sources, it is
worthwhile to consider an LED source. This has almost indefinite lifetime
and can be triggered to switch in microseconds making shutters
redundant.
Regarding light-guide lifetime, we agree with Tao's
comments below. We can add that some of CoolLED's products use
light-guides. We have not seen any appreciable reduction in performance
over many years. We believe this is due to the fact that only the desired
wavelengths are transmitted (no massive Hg spikes or unwanted UV) and
illumination is only effected when required due to instant switching. As
such, the light-guide lasts for a long period and has the added benefit of
generating a very homogeneous illumination over the FOV.
Further information and answers to specific questions are
welcome off the Listserver @ www.coolled.com
JIM Beacher
CoolLED From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Tao Tong Sent: 31 December 2009 01:03 To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Liquid light guide life Tao
On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 3:00 PM, David Knecht <[hidden email]>
wrote:
-- http://tongtao.com |
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In reply to this post by Tao Tong
I need to somewhat contradict to the remarks of Tao. Light-guides (we
have quite some experience with the Sutter ones) are expensive (above 1000 USD) and depending on lamp usage have a life span of approx. 2 years. Of course afterwards you can still use them, but their transmission efficiency will be 10-30% of the original one. I'd certainly suggest to put the shutter before the light guide. This helps anyway to reduce the vibrations of the microscope stage itself. Cheers Gabor |
 
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Donnelly, Tom |
Re: Liquid light guide life ANOTHER COMMERCIAL COMMENT
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In reply to this post by Jim Beacher
We chose to use a fused silica fiber optic cable
instead of a liquid light guide for several technical issues, not the least
of which is the durability of the fused silica. There are DeltaVision
systems using the same fiber optic cable that was installed over ten years
ago. All the older DeltaVision systems utilized a HBO102W lamp which
delivers large amounts of UV rich light to the cable.
When we recently moved to our high intensity Solid
State Illumination system we chose to stay with fused silica cables due to,
among other technical issues, their proved durability. We believe
the fused silica Fiber Optic cable will handle high intensities our SSI
illuminator without degrading.
I would think that liquid life guide life spans would
be dictated by the wavelength, intensity, and duration of the light delivered
through it.
Regards,
Tom Donnelly
Applied Precision, Inc
From: Jim Beacher [mailto:[hidden email]] Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:42 AM To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Liquid light guide life Commercial Interest
If you are considering changing light sources, it is
worthwhile to consider an LED source. This has almost indefinite lifetime
and can be triggered to switch in microseconds making shutters
redundant.
Regarding light-guide lifetime, we agree with Tao's comments
below. We can add that some of CoolLED's products use light-guides.
We have not seen any appreciable reduction in performance over many years.
We believe this is due to the fact that only the desired wavelengths are
transmitted (no massive Hg spikes or unwanted UV) and illumination is only
effected when required due to instant switching. As such, the light-guide
lasts for a long period and has the added benefit of generating a very
homogeneous illumination over the FOV.
Further information and answers to specific questions are
welcome off the Listserver @ www.coolled.com
JIM Beacher
CoolLED From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Tao Tong Sent: 31 December 2009 01:03 To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: Liquid light guide life Tao On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 3:00 PM, David Knecht <[hidden email]>
wrote:
-- http://tongtao.com This email message, together with any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and is the confidential information of Applied Precision Inc. If you are not the intended recipient, your review, use, disclosure, copying or dissemination of this email message or its attachments, or the information contained therein, is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient or if you think this email was sent to you in error, please notify the sender by reply email and delete this message and its attachments, as well as all copies, from your system. |
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