DESCRIPTION
VivaTome
Intended Use
Carl Zeiss
M60-2-0046 e 05/2012
423639-9000-701
9
2
DESCRIPTION
2.1
Intended Use
Product name:
VivaTome
VivaTome is a system for creating and imaging optical sections in real time with the aid of a so-called
spinning disk provided with a grid pattern. As light source, an HXP 120 / HXP 120 C is used.
The images are captured with a CCD camera in real time.
Use the scanhead only in combination with the microscope stands Axio Observer, Axio Imager or
Axio Examiner.
2.2
Functional Principle
VivaTome creates optical sections according to the "aperture correlation" technology that was first
presented by T. Wilson and collaborators at Oxford University. This technology combines the speed of a
spinning disk approach with the light efficiency of structured illumination.
The core of VivaTome is a spinning disk in a conjugate image plane, through which the illumination light
passes to the specimen and the emission light from the specimen is detected. To obtain optical sections,
the disk is structured in a precisely defined way, providing the excitation light with a structure that is
imaged sharply only in the focus. The emission light from the specimen is detected again through the
same disk.
In VivaTome, highest light efficiency is of utmost importance. The structure of the VivaTome spinning disk
allows up to 50 % of the incident excitation light to reach the specimen, so that a simple white light
source is sufficient. This is why the emission detected through the disk is not immediately an optical
section, but the information from the focus plane is superimposed with a conventional widefield image.
To calculate an optical section from this image, a second image, containing exclusively the widefield
contribution, is needed. For this purpose, the disk surface facing the specimen is mirrored. Light reflected
by the disk comes from areas above and below the focus plane, constituting exactly the information
required to calculate the optical section. This light is also imaged onto the camera through a split-view
optics, so that a single shot contains all the information needed to calculate an optical section.
To ensure optimal light efficiency, the disk does not contain individual pinholes, but a grid pattern
structure. Two different grid patterns are available to choose from in order to achieve optimal results with
different objectives. Both grid patterns are arranged optimally on the disk, excluding transition artifacts
between the sectors.
Summary of Contents for VivaTome
Page 1: ...VivaTome Operating Manual...
