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Due to the popularity of Mad City Labs nanopositioning products and their low-profile manual microstage , MCL has added a new XY manual microstage to the product line. The Manual MicroStage-LT is the “long travel” version of Mad City Labs’ popular micrometer coarse position-ing stages developed for use with high resolution nano-positioners. Two design changes distinguish the Manual MicroStage-LT from the standard version (pictured above): longer XY travel (up to 50mm) and an aperture design which allows rotation of the microscope’s objective nosepiece. Like the standard model, continuous internal position locking combined with excellent stability makes this stage an ideal base for high resolution nanopositioning stages. While not as “low profile” as the standard Manual MicroStage, the LT version has been carefully dimensioned to locate the top surface of the stage within the micro-scope’s focal range. Nanopositioning stages with re-en-trant sample holders can be used on top of the Manual MicroStage-LT while maintaining the ability to change objective lenses. Mounting is available for all popular inverted research microscopes.

Lastek will be exhibiting at the upcoming Australian Institute of Physics National Congress, to be held in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from December 5th to the 9th.

We extend a warm welcome to all conference delegates to visit us at our booth, where we have an exciting array of new technology on display. This year, we feature some exciting new product releases from Horiba Scientific , including unique offerings in thin film metrology (UVISEL 2), Raman spectroscopy (XploRA-INV), fluorescence spectroscopy (Aqualog, Dynamyc), optical spectroscopy (Synapse-i, hyperspectral imaging), and more (cathode-luminescence, VUV and synchrotron beamline spectroscopy).

Figure 1. Schematic of OCM1300SS Swept Source OCT Microscope: swept laser source (SS), fiber coupler (FC), polarization controller (PC), circulator (CIR), collimator (C), variable attenuator (VA), mirror (M), balanced detector (BD), data acquisition board (DAQ), XY scanner driver (SD), CCD camera (CCD), objective (OBJ), microscope (MS), analog output (AO), aiming laser (AL). The Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), which is built in the swept light source, provides the frequency clock signal for the laser.

The Thorlabs Swept Source OCT is a frequency domain OCT technique that measures the magnitude and time delay of reflected light in order to construct depth profiles (A-scans) in the sample being imaged. Adjacent A-scans are then taken and all the images combined to create a 3D image. The design integrates a broadband, high-speed swept laser and a fiber-based Michelson interferometer with a balanced detection scheme. The multifunctional system includes an integrated CCD camera which provides simultaneous en-face and cross-sectional OCT imaging of the sample. The system includes a handheld probe that can be mounted onto an adjustable XYZ stage for a more stable imaging platform.

Instant Laser Beam Profiler: Entire Beam Visualization & Wavefront Analysis in One Shot

With no moving parts or additional accessories, Phaseview 's BeamWave performs real-time measurements of all critical laser beam characteristics including intensity distribution, wavefront and beam propagation parameters.

BeamWave® provides high resolution wavefront data which allow laser beam analysis in its all dimensions. From the wavefront data, Zernike analysis is performed; beam’s astigmatism, other low and high order aberrations can precisely measured.

Leukos has developed a new ultracompact supercontinuum source at an effective cost. This source is optionally equipped with external trigger and/or UV extension, or IR extension. It offers white light emission from visible to near IR, in spatially single-mode, sub-nanosecond pulses. The small footprint and modest cost make this an ideal system for spectroscopy, LIDAR, high resolution imaging and flow cytometry. More details here.

Formed in 2006, and based in France, Leukos Systems offer compact supercontinuum sources and variable fibre delay lines. Now available in Australia and New Zealand from Lastek.

Lastek is pleased to announce the availability in Australia of CarbonVision carbon fibre breadboards.

Structures made from Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) have been used for aerospace and space structures for many years due to their low weight, high strength and excellent thermal stability.

Now CarbonVision makes CFRP technology available in the design and manufacture of breadboards and other mounting platforms.

A wide range of sizes and options are available, including custom fabrication to suit unique requirements. Properties of the breadboards can easily be tailored for specific applications. Stiffness and thermal stability for example can be adjusted by bonding additional CFRP plates to the structure.

Suitable also for clean-room environments, these breadboards offer the performance of traditional steel honeycomb breadboards at a fraction of the weight.

TOPTICA is presenting a tunable “ultra compressed pulse” (UCP) model of the successful FemtoFiber pro series. The system provides a supercontinuum between 980 – 1400 nm and more than 30 mW output power. It features pulse durations even below 25 fs, the shortest one can get on the market from a modelocked fiber laser system. The system is ideally suited for biophotonics, pump-probe experiments or fs-spectroscopy.

High Q Laser presents the picoREGEN™ High-Energy, a ps-laser with pulse energies up to 1 Joule.

The picoREGEN High-Energy is based on High Q Laser`s picoREGEN SCIENCE, a regenerative amplifier providing a maximum pulse energy of 3 mJ and a pulse duration of 12 ps. The laser can be operated from single pulse mode up to a repetition rate of 1 kHz.

By using an additional Post Amplification Module the pulse energy of the laser system can be further increased. There are two options: A lamp pumped Post Amplification Module is leading to a maximum pulse energy of 1 Joule at a repetition rate of up to 10 Hz. A diode pumped set-up increases the energy to 200 mJ at a maximum repetition rate of up to 200 Hz. The available maximum pulse energies vary with pulse duration and have to be customized to individual needs.

HighQ Laser are offering two demonstration systems at exceptional prices.

The first is a femtosecond oscillator delivering 2 W output power at a repetition rate of 20 MHz and a pulse duration of < 200 fs.

With a pulse energy of 100 nJ the compact oscillator can be used as a universal femtosecond laser source for scientific applications.

The other one is an OPO Levante EMERALD together with the picoTRAIN™ Green pump source. The OPO delivers picosecond pulses tunable over a wide range with high output energy in the NIR from 680 ... 2450 nm.

Please contact us for further details. Availability strictly limited.

The LaVision Biotec Ultra-microscope represents an entirely new class of imaging system, created by combining pioneering ideas from the last century with today's technical concepts. It offers exceptional new opportunities for:

• Whole brain imaging at cellular resolution
• 3D high speed imaging without bleaching
• High throughput phenotype screening.

The Ultramicroscope can handle samples of even a centimetre in size, yet with sub-cellular resolution. Based on a technique originally developed for particle analysis in 1903, it has been refined this century for optical sectioning of large biological samples.

LaVision BioTec’s Ultramicroscope utilizes a thin sheet of light to excite biological samples while the fluorescence light is detected with a CCD-equipped microscope perpendicularly to the illuminated area. By moving the sample through the sheet and taking pictures at each depth, one generates a 3D image at cellular resolution in whole organs, using fluorescent proteins, fluorescent dyes or autofluorescence!