Re: Custom ring tirf alignment issue

Posted by Joe Ping-Lin Hsiao on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Custom-ring-tirf-alignment-issue-tp7586045p7586052.html

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Thanks Craig, the adjustment I have to do is actually pretty small. Also I found that switch to a different filter cube would change the beam's direction a little bit. I might have to compensate that by defining a new zero-volt position on the steering mirror.

On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 1:25 PM, Craig Brideau <[hidden email]> wrote:

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Yes. Any environmental drift in the lab will cause mirrors and optics to flex a small amount. Even turning the laser on and off will cause small movements as the laser heats up and cools down. Unless you thermo-stabilize everything you will always see small amounts of drift. Better optical mounts and lasers will alleviate this somewhat, but it is very hard to eliminate completely. If the adjustments you have to make are fairly small then you are doing well.

Craig

On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 8:09 AM, Joe Ping-Lin Hsiao <[hidden email]> wrote:

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Hi, we built a custom ring tirf system with multiple fast steering mirrors in the light path. Each mirror can tilt in both X and Y, so to achieve ring tirf we only need to control one of them.

The system works fine except for one issue. In our system, the laser beam goes into the objective from below. From time to time I found that the laser beam would be off the center axis, so I have to check that every time before experiments and to re-align the beam if it's off. Is this normal?