UV scanning system - commercial products

[Ivo Telley]

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Dear microscopists and optical engineers,

I am looking into the assembly of a UV (355nm) scanning system coupled into the back of a Nikon Ti. We will use a CryLas 355 pulsed laser (FTSS355-Q3). I reckon that there are several commercial products for beam expansion, Galvo-scanner+theta lens, etc. My question is which ones to go for…

Thus, I was wondering about your experience with the performance of some commercial products you have used for this purpose.
- The scan lens (f-theta) and the Galvo-scan system and their software implementation (I looked at Camtech and Thorlabs).
- Would it make sense to build a beam expander (Galilean type) for this particular wavelength and save some $$? If so, which optics and provider would you suggest for 355 nm?
- Does anybody have experience with SillOptics beam expanders for UV range?
- Moreover, is there a tube lens out there that performs decently for this wavelength in conjunction with Nikons Plan Apo 40x 1.25W lambdaS objective?

Thanks for all the recommendations on this topic!

Ivo





Ivo A. Telley, PhD
Physics of Nuclear Division Lab
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)
Rua da Quinta Grande, 6
2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.igc.gulbenkian.pt/research/unit/136

[Arne Seitz]

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Hi Ivo,

I cannot reply to all of you questions.
But we do use a beam-expander from SilOptics in order to widen the beam of a 355 nm laser and we are happy with it (no commercial interests).

Cheers
Arne

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ivo Telley
> Sent: mardi 29 avril 2014 12:29
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: UV scanning system - commercial products
>
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Dear microscopists and optical engineers,
>
> I am looking into the assembly of a UV (355nm) scanning system coupled into
> the back of a Nikon Ti. We will use a CryLas 355 pulsed laser (FTSS355-Q3). I
> reckon that there are several commercial products for beam expansion,
> Galvo-scanner+theta lens, etc. My question is which ones to go for.
>
> Thus, I was wondering about your experience with the performance of some
> commercial products you have used for this purpose.
> - The scan lens (f-theta) and the Galvo-scan system and their software
> implementation (I looked at Camtech and Thorlabs).
> - Would it make sense to build a beam expander (Galilean type) for this
> particular wavelength and save some $$? If so, which optics and provider
> would you suggest for 355 nm?
> - Does anybody have experience with SillOptics beam expanders for UV
> range?
> - Moreover, is there a tube lens out there that performs decently for this
> wavelength in conjunction with Nikons Plan Apo 40x 1.25W lambdaS
> objective?
>
> Thanks for all the recommendations on this topic!
>
> Ivo
>
>
>
>
>
> Ivo A. Telley, PhD
> Physics of Nuclear Division Lab
> Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)
> Rua da Quinta Grande, 6
> 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
> Phone: [phone]
> Fax: [phone]
> http://www.igc.gulbenkian.pt/research/unit/136

[Paul Rigby-2]

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Hi Ivo,
I have a couple of comments/suggestions to your questions:
1. Most objectives (particularly PlanApos) do not transmit 355nm very well at all. Many show a sharp drop in transmission below 360nm, so you will likely need to use a fluorite glass objective.
2. A possible cheap source for optics for your system might be from the optics from an old Biorad UV confocal. These systems routinely had a 351nm CW laser and galvo mirrors and tube lenses had coatings that worked for UV wavelengths. I'm sure there are still several instruments and parts sitting in laboratories around the world.

Hope this helps.
Paul

Assoc. Prof. Paul Rigby
Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation & Analysis (M510)
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley  WA  6007
Australia

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Ivo Telley
Sent: Tuesday, 29 April 2014 6:29 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: UV scanning system - commercial products

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*****

Dear microscopists and optical engineers,

I am looking into the assembly of a UV (355nm) scanning system coupled into the back of a Nikon Ti. We will use a CryLas 355 pulsed laser (FTSS355-Q3). I reckon that there are several commercial products for beam expansion, Galvo-scanner+theta lens, etc. My question is which ones to go for.

Thus, I was wondering about your experience with the performance of some commercial products you have used for this purpose.
- The scan lens (f-theta) and the Galvo-scan system and their software implementation (I looked at Camtech and Thorlabs).
- Would it make sense to build a beam expander (Galilean type) for this particular wavelength and save some $$? If so, which optics and provider would you suggest for 355 nm?
- Does anybody have experience with SillOptics beam expanders for UV range?
- Moreover, is there a tube lens out there that performs decently for this wavelength in conjunction with Nikons Plan Apo 40x 1.25W lambdaS objective?

Thanks for all the recommendations on this topic!

Ivo





Ivo A. Telley, PhD
Physics of Nuclear Division Lab
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)
Rua da Quinta Grande, 6
2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.igc.gulbenkian.pt/research/unit/136