The Epi-Illumination Layer is used to couple a wide variety of illumination sources into the openFrame’s infinity space. Several options are available to suit your needs.
Single Illumination Port
The Single Epi Layer provides a tip-tilt adjustable input for a single illumination source.
Dual Illumination Port
The Dual Epi Layer enables the stable and easy switching between two illumination sources.
Immediately under the Focus Layer is the first layer that allows illumination sources to be coupled into the openFrame microscope. This can range from basic single wavelength LED illumination to substantially more advanced illumination systems such as laser scanners used for TIRF, FRAP or photomanipulation experiments. A key defining feature of all the options is that any filter cubes or mirror mounts can be individually tip-tilt adjusted. This allows for straightforward optical registration of all illumination channels, to ensure zero pixel shift between different illumination paths, especially important for demanding applications such as TIRF.
Light sources can be coupled directly, free space, or remotely via a liquid light guide or multimode / singlemode fibre. The illumination can be masked using Cairn’s unique dual-control adjustable rectangle aperture, to match photon exposure to the camera sensor and avoid corner bleaching when tiling images.
