OREANDA-NEWS. October 4, 2012. Olympus Corporation (Representative Director and President: Hiroyuki Sasa) announced today to introduce two new laser scanning microscopes for universities and other research institutions engaged in life science research: the FLUOVIEW FV1200 Biological Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope*1 and the FLUOVIEW FV1200MPE Multi Photon Laser Scanning Microscope*2. The new microscopes will be available from October 5, 2012, initially in Japan and subsequently in the rest of the world.

Olympus markets its biological confocal laser scanning microscopes and multi photon laser scanning microscopes as the FLUOVIEW series. A feature of these microscopes is that they can obtain 3D high contrast images by scanning a specimen with laser beam and detecting the fluorescence light.

The new FV1200 and FV1200MPE microscopes, which are successor models of the FV1000 and FV1000MPE respectively, can offer superior rigidity and ease-of-use, higher sensitivity and lower noise to users. FV1200MPE uses an infrared (IR) laser that gives high tissue transparency, and enables the deep imaging with thick cells and tissues that make it difficult to do even while using the FV1200.*1  A type of microscope that obtains a 3D image by excluding all fluorescent light other than that from the focal point. The image is produced by using a laser light source to scan the specimen or sample.
*2  A type of microscope that obtains a 3D image with the optical characteristics using the fluorescent light emitted just from the focal point. The image is produced by using an IR laser light source to scan the specimen or sample.

Launch OverviewProduct Name Launch Date
FLUOVIEW FV1200 Biological Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope October 5, 2012
FLUOVIEW FV1200MPE Multi Photon Laser Scanning Microscope

Main Features of FV1200 and FV1200MPE
Incorporates a new research inverted microscope with improved rigidity and ease-of-use.
Newly designed silver-coated galvanometer mirrors with high reflectance
New high sensitivity detector dedicated to FV1200 provides observations with high sensitivity and low noise.
Product Background

A common research technique in the life sciences is the use of live cells to elucidate the role and function of proteins or nerves, and to search for these applications in the drug discovery or other new fields. Biological confocal laser scanning microscopes and multi photon laser scanning microscopes are actively used at numerous research institutions working in these fields, both for fluorescence observations and for their capabilities to produce three-dimensional images of detailed cell structures. This is because they can obtain depth-direction information difficult to acquire using a conventional microscope.

Given the trend toward greater diversity of researches and longer observation periods, such as time-lapse images in which repeated observations are made of a living cell culture at fixed time intervals, there are also demands to improve microscope stability and ease-of-use as well as the high sensitivity needed to detect very weak fluorescent light.

Olympus has launched the new FV1200 and FV1200MPE microscopes to meet these demands from research users, drawing on optical and digital technology acquired over many years to achieve improved sensitivity, stability and ease-of-use.
Details of Main Features

1. Incorporates a new research inverted microscope with improved rigidity and ease-of-use
 A laser scanning microscope is made up of a number of different units, including laser light sources and a scanning unit as well as the microscope itself. The microscope used in the FV1200 and FV1200MPE is now Olympus's the latest model, IX83 research inverted microscope. The IX83 that can accept a wide range of specimens from live cells to fixed samples is suitable for long time-lapse observations, employing the new square frame architecture, which can contribute to enhancing its rigidity to reduce negative effects of heat, vibration and other disturbances with well-prepared specimens or samples for the duration of the observation. Ease-of-use is also improved by the IX83 touch screen (namely “touch panel”) that provides an intuitive way to specify settings and operate the instrument.

2. Newly designed silver-coated galvanometer mirrors with high reflectance
 The microscopes use newly designed silver-coated galvanometer mirrors for scanning the specimen. The new mirrors have superior reflectance to those used on previous models (improved by maximum 25% or more in the near infrared range) and this allows great efficiency and sensitivity to detect fluorescence light than ever before.

3. New high sensitivity detector dedicated to the FV1200 provides observations with high sensitivity and low noise
 A new high sensitivity detector unit was specially designed for the FV1200. The new detector implements the gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) detector, which can convert the light into a photon energy signal with higher efficiency than the conventional alkali-metal-based photomultiplier tube (PMT), and a newly developed cooling system that can suppress electronic signal noise by about 20%. Consequently, clear fluorescence observations with high sensitivity can be made, not only of dark specimens that were difficult to observe using previous confocal microscopes, but also of specimens easy to make fluorescent photobleaching.