replacement fiber for Olympus 405nm laser (FV5-LD405)

[Stanislav Vitha-2]

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We have a ~15 year old Olympus FV1000 confocal system with the fiber-coupled 405 nm laser, FV5-LD405.
The fiber (single-mode polarization-maintaining fiber) is now noticeably losing its transmission, from the original ~60% is down to ~20%. This, when combined with the fact that the laser itself has only about half the original power output, makes for a dim DAPI signal with settings that our users are accustomed to.

The fiber assembly is no longer available from Olympus.
Did any of you tried to replace the fiber with a 3rd party component, or managed to restore/polish the end of the fiber?
I think some disassembly may be required (if actually possible) since the fiber assembly (FV5-FUR405) has the alignment/focusing optics attached to both ends of the fiber.

Thanks in advance!

Stan Vitha

Microscopy and Imaging Center
Texas A&M University

[Craig Brideau]

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I've been replacing the Melles Griot lasers on my old Nikon C1 with lasers
from Pavilion as they fail. No commercial interest, satisfied customer.
http://www.pavilionintegration.com/
Just be sure to be very clear how you need the laser to be driven, as they
make the driver modules semi-custom for each unit. They can do a simple
control knob, or a voltage controlled input if you tell them the operating
range of the control signal.

Craig

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 4:51 PM Stanislav Vitha <[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
> 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.
> *****
>
> We have a ~15 year old Olympus FV1000 confocal system with the
> fiber-coupled 405 nm laser, FV5-LD405.
> The fiber (single-mode polarization-maintaining fiber) is now noticeably
> losing its transmission, from the original ~60% is down to ~20%. This, when
> combined with the fact that the laser itself has only about half the
> original power output, makes for a dim DAPI signal with settings that our
> users are accustomed to.
>
> The fiber assembly is no longer available from Olympus.
> Did any of you tried to replace the fiber with a 3rd party component, or
> managed to restore/polish the end of the fiber?
> I think some disassembly may be required (if actually possible) since the
> fiber assembly (FV5-FUR405) has the alignment/focusing optics attached to
> both ends of the fiber.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Stan Vitha
>
> Microscopy and Imaging Center
> Texas A&M University
>

[Benjamin Smith]

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I learned something new today.  At first I was thinking this was
solarization, but according to this paper the primary failure mode of
single-mode fibers at 405 nm is face defects with no measurable
solarization:
https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Optical-Engineering/volume-53/issue-12/122512/Investigation-of-single-mode-fiber-degradation-by-405-nm-continuous/10.1117/1.OE.53.12.122512.full?SSO=1


That said, the power densities used in the study were at least 1-2 orders
of magnitude higher than what you would find on a standard confocal
microscope, so it may be a bit of an extrapolation to apply to this
situation, especially when the authors state that attenuating the laser
power resolved this issue.  That said, fiber polishing is pretty straight
forward and cheap (there may even be someone in the physics or engineering
department willing to help you out), so if you can readily access the fiber
face, it would at least be worth a shot.  If you do try polishing, I would
love to know if it significantly improved transmission.

-Ben Smith

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 4:21 PM Craig Brideau <[hidden email]>
wrote:

> *****
> 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.
> *****
>
> I've been replacing the Melles Griot lasers on my old Nikon C1 with lasers
> from Pavilion as they fail. No commercial interest, satisfied customer.
> http://www.pavilionintegration.com/
> Just be sure to be very clear how you need the laser to be driven, as they
> make the driver modules semi-custom for each unit. They can do a simple
> control knob, or a voltage controlled input if you tell them the operating
> range of the control signal.
>
> Craig
>
> On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 4:51 PM Stanislav Vitha <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > *****
> > 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.
> > *****
> >
> > We have a ~15 year old Olympus FV1000 confocal system with the
> > fiber-coupled 405 nm laser, FV5-LD405.
> > The fiber (single-mode polarization-maintaining fiber) is now noticeably
> > losing its transmission, from the original ~60% is down to ~20%. This,
> when
> > combined with the fact that the laser itself has only about half the
> > original power output, makes for a dim DAPI signal with settings that our
> > users are accustomed to.
> >
> > The fiber assembly is no longer available from Olympus.
> > Did any of you tried to replace the fiber with a 3rd party component, or
> > managed to restore/polish the end of the fiber?
> > I think some disassembly may be required (if actually possible) since the
> > fiber assembly (FV5-FUR405) has the alignment/focusing optics attached to
> > both ends of the fiber.
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Stan Vitha
> >
> > Microscopy and Imaging Center
> > Texas A&M University
> >
>

--
Benjamin E. Smith, Ph. D.
Imaging Specialist, Vision Science
University of California, Berkeley
195 Life Sciences Addition
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
Tel  [phone]
Fax [phone]
e-mail: [hidden email]
http://vision.berkeley.edu/?page_id=5635 <http://vision.berkeley.edu/>

[Stanislav Vitha-2]

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*****

Thanks, Ben and Craig.
I will see if I can get to the face of the fiber; It looks like the fiber connector may be cemented in the collimator housing.

Regarding replacement lasers, It seems like a good option if I have to go this route. Our laser is directly controlled from the FV1000 system via its power supply unit, so I will need to do some research on compatible solutions.

Stan Vitha
Microscopy and Imaging Center
Texas A&M University

On Thu, 6 Jun 2019 19:25:06 -0700, Benjamin Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

>I learned something new today.  At first I was thinking this was
>solarization, but according to this paper the primary failure mode of
>single-mode fibers at 405 nm is face defects with no measurable
>solarization:
>https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Optical-Engineering/volume-53/issue-12/122512/Investigation-of-single-mode-fiber-degradation-by-405-nm-continuous/10.1117/1.OE.53.12.122512.full?SSO=1
>
>
>That said, the power densities used in the study were at least 1-2 orders
>of magnitude higher than what you would find on a standard confocal
>microscope, so it may be a bit of an extrapolation to apply to this
>situation, especially when the authors state that attenuating the laser
>power resolved this issue.  That said, fiber polishing is pretty straight
>forward and cheap (there may even be someone in the physics or engineering
>department willing to help you out), so if you can readily access the fiber
>face, it would at least be worth a shot.  If you do try polishing, I would
>love to know if it significantly improved transmission.
>
>-Ben Smith
>
>On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 4:21 PM Craig Brideau <[hidden email]>
>wrote:
>
>> *****
>> 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.
>> *****
>>
>> I've been replacing the Melles Griot lasers on my old Nikon C1 with lasers
>> from Pavilion as they fail. No commercial interest, satisfied customer.
>> http://www.pavilionintegration.com/
>> Just be sure to be very clear how you need the laser to be driven, as they
>> make the driver modules semi-custom for each unit. They can do a simple
>> control knob, or a voltage controlled input if you tell them the operating
>> range of the control signal.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 4:51 PM Stanislav Vitha <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> > *****