Laser Launchers

Overview of Laser Launchers

ISS offers a variety of laser launchers accommodating lasers made by ISS, Omicron, Coherent and other manufacturers. The laser launchers, with automation controlled through the computer, is used on the ISS microscopy systems and can be used to bring the light beam to any commercial laser scanning microscope or spectrometer. The main features include:

• Lasers are installed outside the launcher to avoid heat build-up.
• Selection of the laser beams to use for excitation is through the software activating the shutter mounted in front of each laser.
• Regulation of each laser intensity is through a variable attenuator controlled by the software.
• The laser launcher controls are through the USB port.

The laser launcher includes an array of dichroic mirrors for the alignment and superposition of the various laser beams; the resulting output beams are focused onto a single-mode fiber, which brings the light beam to the excitation chamber of the microscope. When lasers for both the VIS and NIR regions are used, the output is through two separate fibers (3.5 µm diameter for the VIS light; 7.5 µm for the NIR light). As the standard length of the fiber is 2 m, the laser launcher can be positioned away from the microscope surface table.

Compatible with Q2, and PL1.