CONFOCOR
3
Carl Zeiss
System Configuration
ConfoCor 3
34 M60-1-0025
e
02/2010
Procedure to Adjust Pinholes
•
Mount a carrier with a suitable dye solution and orient the sample stage. Select the test sample.
•
Select the beam path or the method with attached beam path you want to use.
•
Set the laser power above 100 kHz, if possible.
•
<Open the
Pinhole
Adjust
window (Fig. 36).
•
Set the pinhole diameter as required
•
Select the channel to which you want to adjust in a dual channel set up.
•
Adjust both pinhole axes separately in the following order: x coarse, y coarse, x fine, y fine.
Both pinhole axes x and y must be adjusted. Otherwise the pinhole alignment will not be stored.
You might be able to increase count rate by adjusting the collimator in the
Collimator
panel for
invisible light. To find the optimum collimator settings use either the count rate or images. This
function should be changed with care only. The optimal collimator setting is pre-set in the factory.
For visible light there is no need for collimation.
In the Pinhole Alignment, the beam past is adjusted relative to the fixed pinhole. The rationale for
pinhole alignment is the following. In a one channel setting, only the selected channel is active and
the chosen laser line used. In a two channel setup both channels can be chosen for doing the
pinhole alignment. If a secondary long pass filter and two laser lines were selected, than by
activating channel 1 the lower wavelength laser will be sued and for channel 2 the longer
wavelength laser. If a secondary short pass filter was selected, than this is vice versa. If both laser
lines are from the VIS or InVIS/InTune range than only one channel has to be adjusted, since the
same beam path is used. However, if one laser is from the VIS range and the other from InVIS or
InTune, than you have to adjust both channels. Again, the shorter wavelength laser will be used for
channel 2, the longer wavelength laser for channel 1 for a long pass secondary dichroic. If only one
laser line is activated with two channels selected, for example when using a 50/50 beam splitter,
than this laser line is used for either channel 1 or channel 2. It should be avoided to use an InTune
laser line that exactly corresponds to one of the VIS Lines as the system than is non-defined as
which laser is used for which channel.
