Posted by
Aryeh Weiss on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Leica-SP5-argon-ion-laser-yet-again-tp7579328p7579449.html
*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy*****
Here is something SP5 (and maybe others) will want to know.
We finally figured out why our argon-ion laser was flickering.
Actually, it turned out to be an unstable electro-mechanical shutter in
front of the laser. They have this light leaf shutter which opened to
its "up" position, but then it has this slight random vibration that
partially interrupts the beam in a random way (not constant amplitude).
Arghh....
Anyway, Leica has identical shutters on the other lasers, so we swapped
the argon-ion shutter with the 594nm shutter (594 is used least, since
we have 561nm and 633nm lasers), So far, the 594 does not suffer the
same fate -- it is possible that the 594 beam goes through the aperture
a bit lower than the argon ion beam.
Does anyone know who actually makes this shutter? It only has a Leica
part number on it.
Also, if anyone has experienced "hysteresis" (ie, the fiber does not
follow the screw smoothly) in alignment of those 4-screw fiber aligners,
(double Arghh....), I am interested in becoming wiser about this.
--aryeh
--
Aryeh Weiss
Faculty of Engineering
Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan 52900 Israel
Ph: 972-3-5317638
FAX: 972-3-7384051