Andor Technology, an Oxford Instruments company and world leader in scientific imaging and spectroscopy solutions, today announced the launch of LightSheet PLUS for Zyla 4.2, a new feature set which ensures the end-user has more control and flexibility over the functionality of the rolling shutter scanning mode. LightSheet PLUS is perfectly suited to the applications of Light Sheet microscopy and Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy.
The bulk of light sheet microscopy applications today investigate the development of living embryos and the samples under examination can be relatively large and thick. By virtue of this, it can be quite difficult to acquire highly resolved images due to the scattering of light and low contrast in such samples. One proposed alternative approach is to sweep a laser beam across the focal plane, resulting in a planar illumination equivalent to a sheet but with improved illumination efficiency and uniform intensity distribution. LightSheet PLUS functionality allows the user to synchronize the scanning of their illumination beam to sheet to a defined scan row height on the sensor. Image quality is improved since the scan row height can act as a slit detector, rejecting scattered light, improving contrast and SNR, therefore providing sharper and more resolved images.
LightSheet PLUS allows the user to scan their illumination beam from the top to the bottom of the sensor or vice versa in one continuous sweep. Further control is available through FlexiScan, a feature of LightSheet PLUS, which allows the user to maximize signal and confocality concurrently. With this feature the user has three parameters that they can independently adjust: the scan row height (slit width), scan speed (#lines/ms) and the exposure time.
LightSheet PLUS provides multiple different readout directions, allowing the user further flexibility. Of particular benefit is the unique CycleMax feature, which can be utilised to ensure minimum deadtime between scans by enabling the laser sweep and the corresponding rolling shutter ‘virtual slit’ scan direction to alternate from top-bottom to bottom-top. This, therefore, avoids the need to reset the laser to the same starting position for each subsequent image.
Dr Orla Hanrahan, Andor’s Application Specialist in Life Science Imaging, said, “The addition of LightSheet PLUS with FlexiScan and CycleMax is a great advantage to the research community, especially those working in the area of light sheet microscopy. This new feature set provides independent control of the slit row height, scan speed and exposure time on Zyla 4.2 and enables multiple different readout directions at the maximum frame rate. This feature will allow the user to reduce background and improve contrast and resolution in thick, scattering samples.”
