Focus on lasers, imaging, and microscopy

According to Photek, its N-Cam incorporates the latest neutron-imaging technology. The intensified neutron camera system significantly reduces image-acquisition time while maintaining excellent spatial resolution. With a gadolinium oxysulfide layer directly applied to the image intensifier, the N-Cam simultaneously provides greater sensitivity and excellent spatial resolution and yields fast integration times and a high signal-to-noise ratio. It features gating down to 50 ns, which improves precision for time-of-flight energy-specific imaging. The standard N-Cam comes with a 4.2 MP cooled sCMOS camera and a 75-mm-diameter field of view capable of high-speed or energy-specific radiography and tomography with greater than 10 line pairs/mm resolution. Applications include neutron radiography; computed tomography; and dynamic, energy-specific, and stroboscopic imaging. Photek USA LLC, 313 W Liberty St, Ste 256, Lancaster, PA 17603, www.photek.com

Vescent has unveiled its FFC-100 erbium-based fiber frequency comb. At its heart is the company’s MLL-100 mode-locked laser, which features a passive semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. Designed for longevity, it delivers sub-100 fs seed pulses to a highly nonlinear fiber for supercontinuum generation. For long-term stability, the company locks ƒ_CEO and ƒ_opt of its octave-spanning comb, which will support the requirements of the next generation of optical clocks. Fitting into a 2U 19-inch rack-mount chassis, the FFC-100 features more than 30 mW of power in the supercontinuum spectrum, factory-matchable repetition rates to better than 5 kHz, and high-bandwidth control over repetition rate. It is a suitable source for multicomb spectroscopy, low phase noise RF generation, frequency ruler work, and more. Vescent Photonics LLC, 14998 W 6th Ave, Ste 700, Golden, CO 80401, www.vescent.com

Park Systems has added new software to the Park SmartScan operating system for its atomic force microscopes (AFMs). Park SmartLitho is a next-generation technology that controls nanolithography processes via a user-friendly interface. Objects can be easily drawn, resized, and moved by manipulating a mouse, and bitmap images can be imported for raster and vector nanolithography. Using Park SmartLitho, a bias-assisted nanopatterning of complicated structures can be readily produced by locally oxidizing the surface of a silicon wafer and switching ferroelectric domains of a lead zirconate titanate film. A high-voltage mode allows the AFM system to be connected to an external voltage amplifier so experiments or measurements can use a tip or sample bias exceeding the normal ±10 V nanolithography mode. SmartLitho also produces vector nanolithography, crucial for today’s advanced circuit designs and structures. Applications for SmartLitho include the creation of integrated circuits and parts for semiconductor device circuit technologies. Park Systems Inc, 3040 Olcott St, Santa Clara, CA 95054, https://parksystems.com

PicoQuant developed rapidFLIM^HiRes to combine rapid data acquisition speed and high time resolution in visualizing dynamic processes in cells or tissue. RapidFLIM^HiRes can be used to study fast processes such as protein interactions, Förster resonance energy transfer dynamics, ion fluxes, and quickly moving species. It enables imaging of samples at up to 15 fps with a time resolution of 10 ps. RapidFLIM^HiRes overcomes the limitations of classic FLIM, which is based on time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). Instead, the new imager uses hardware that includes hybrid photomultiplier detectors that can handle count rates of about 78 Mcps and the MultiHarp 150 4P TCSPC module with four parallel detection channels. Memory management and processing time in the SymPhoTime data-acquisition and analysis software have been improved, and correction algorithms reduce decay-curve distortions due to very high count rates and artifacts of the detector pulse pileup. PicoQuant, Rudower Chaussee 29, 12489 Berlin, Germany, www.picoquant.com

Hübner Photonics has introduced the Cobolt Rogue 640 nm laser. The multimode, high-power Cobolt Rogue series of CW diode-pumped lasers complements the Cobolt 05-01 single-frequency series. The Cobolt Rogue 640 nm laser emits in multiple longitudinal TEM₀₀ modes with 1 W of output power and spectral half width less than 150 GHz. It is suitable for superresolution and fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and DNA sequencing. All Cobolt lasers are manufactured using proprietary HTCure technology; according to the company, the resulting compact, hermetically sealed package improves the laser’s reliability and performance under varying environmental conditions. Hübner Photonics Inc, 2635 N 1st St, Ste 202, San Jose, CA 95124, https://hubner-photonics.com

ProPhotonix has expanded its PROdigii digital laser module range by five wavelengths at output powers up to 500 mW. The new wavelengths allow the company to offer digital laser solutions for additional applications: The 375 nm PROdigii digital laser is suitable for UV curing and fluorescing. There are two wavelengths in the blue range, a 405 nm digital laser appropriate for 3D printing and particle measurement and a 450 nm laser module suitable for spectroscopy. The 905 nm and 940 nm IR digital lasers can be used in robotics, gesture recognition, and lidar applications. The compact, high-performance PROdigii laser modules are available with a uniform-line, elliptical-spot, or diffractive pattern. According to the company, the configurable lasers offer straightforward integration into most systems, high wavelength stability, and excellent thermal management in challenging environments. ProPhotonix Ltd, 13 Red Roof Lane, Ste 200, Salem, NH 03079, www.prophotonix.com

To meet the needs of cutting-edge scientific research, Teledyne Princeton Instruments has increased the wavelength coverage of its Blaze models HRX and LDX spectroscopy CCD cameras. At −95 °C, the Blaze CCD cameras can achieve greater than 90% quantum efficiency at 450 nm, 98% at 900 nm, and 75% at 1000 nm and can maintain high frame rates and low dark current. For broad wavelength coverage (190–1100 nm), the Blaze also comes with Unichrome coating. Improvements are attributed to the addition of the company’s eXcelon technology to the Blaze models’ sensors, which provides highly sensitive spectroscopic imaging coverage across a broad spectrum. With dual-port, high-readout speeds of 16 MHz and ultralow noise, the Blaze spectroscopic cameras are suitable for applications such as pump–probe experiments, new materials research, Raman spectroscopy, and small-animal imaging. Teledyne Princeton Instruments, 3660 Quakerbridge Rd, Trenton, NJ 08619, www.princetoninstruments.com

A new flat-field diffraction grating improves the efficiency and range of McPherson’s model 251MX soft x-ray spectrometer for measurements of deep-UV and vacuum-UV radiation and emission spectra with subnanometer spectral resolution. Designed to minimize astigmatism and coma, flat-field concave grating grooves are neither parallel nor equidistant. With a digital camera and adjustable slits, the 251MX now works from less than 1 nm up to more than 200 nm (5 eV to 1500 eV). The newly mastered gold-coated diffraction grating is suitable for work from 50 nm to 200 nm. With aberration correction and a flat-field spectrum, the optical system is suitable for use with direct-detection CCD or microchannel-plate-intensified detectors. The 251MX can be used in such fields as plasma physics and astrophysics and in such applications as spectral test and calibration, attosecond-pulse and high-harmonic laser generation, and extreme UV lithography semiconductor source and process development. McPherson Inc, 7A Stuart Rd, Chelmsford, MA 01824, https://mcphersoninc.com

The second generation of WITec’s alpha300 apyron automated Raman imaging microscope features AutoBeam technology that enhances its optical, analytical, and operational capabilities and improves automation and user-friendliness. Because of AutoBeam’s optomechanical components, which can be configured to create the optimal experimental setup for every investigation, the alpha300 apyron can self-align and self-calibrate; less user input eliminates potential sources of error. Other new functionalities provided by AutoBeam modules include polarization-dependent measurements with motorized polarizer and analyzer rotation, push-button spectrometer connection and signal maximization, and automated adjustment of both iris diaphragms. WITec Instruments Corp, 130G Market Place Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37922, www.WITec-Instruments.com

Minus K designed its CT-2 to be the thinnest low-frequency-vibration passive isolator for micro- and nanomicroscopy. Its negative-stiffness isolation aims to minimize the low-frequency vibrations that can be problematic for sensitive instrumentation, particularly at the nanometer level, without involving compressed air or electricity. Operating purely in a passive mechanical mode, the tabletop unit delivers ½ Hz vertical and ~1½ Hz horizontal natural frequencies—better vibration-isolation performance at low frequency than air tables and active systems, the company claims. With no motors, pumps, or chambers, there is nothing to wear out and no maintenance, and the small size—just 2½ inches high—mitigates space constraints. Besides various microscopy techniques—including scanning probe, scanning electron, and atomic force—the CT-2 can be used in laser, optical, biological, and neuroscience systems and in applications such as microhardness, nanoindenter, and spacecraft ground testing. Minus K Technology Inc, 460 Hindry Ave, Unit C, Inglewood, CA 90301, www.minusk.com