Dec032010December 3, 2010September 26, 20145Commentsby L.

Pulsed laser power

Posted in Hardware, Tips

Someone asked me recently how peak power related to average power for pulsed lasers. You can get fancy with this calculation, but people rarely do. 99% of the time, people…

Read More


Dec022010December 2, 2010December 2, 20100Commentby L.

Labrigger Xmas Gift List 2010

Posted in Hardware, Software, Tips

Here’s the 2010 Labrigger Xmas Gift List.
Care to add anything?

Beam profiler

Measure the divergence of your laser beam, its stability, uniformity– all kinds of good stuff. These are useful metrics for diagnosing problems with the laser and really nailing the alignment…

Read More


Nov242010November 24, 2010November 24, 20101Commentby L.

Igor Pro and Electrophysiology

Posted in Software

Igor Pro is a data analysis environment specialized for 1D time series data. It has some nice features: it handles data scaling beautifully, it has good…

Read More


Nov232010November 23, 2010November 21, 20102Commentsby L.

Laser safety

Posted in Tips

…

Read More


Nov222010November 22, 2010November 21, 20101Commentby L.

Ponoko starts 3D printing

Posted in Tips

Ponoko is a laser cutting service that recently started offering 3D printing. Their 3D services is similar to what Shapeways offers. It’s nice to see a pair of…

Read More


Nov212010November 21, 2010November 21, 20100Commentby L.

Raw materials

Posted in Tips

If you need a chunk of metal for a custom piece for your rig, what are the options? The best way to go is to buy a part that is close to what you…

Read More


Nov202010November 20, 2010November 20, 20101Commentby L.

Thorlabs scope building blocks

Posted in Hardware

At the SfN meeting in San Diego this year, I met Jeff Brooker from Thorlabs. Jeff and his team of about 17 people have a history of working together in industry on photonics. They…

Read More


Nov092010November 9, 2010November 9, 20100Commentby L.

Software for custom 2p scopes

Posted in Software

If you build your own two photon scope, you’ll need software. I mainly use the MATLAB-based ScanImage. Vijay Iyer (Janelia Farm) has really made it a slick, stable program. It cosmetically resembles…

Read More


Nov072010November 7, 2010November 8, 20104Commentsby L.

Fiber optic termination

Posted in Tips

Fiber optics must be terminated properly in order to permit high transmission. If you’re making your own, get a proper fiber cleaver and a set of polishing sheets. Here are…

Read More


Nov062010November 6, 2010November 6, 20102Commentsby L.

sCMOS vs. EMCCD

Posted in Hardware

In the last post, commenter Christophe asked about sCMOS cameras. He was interested in higher light level applications, but for the sake of comparison, here’s a picture of their low light performance, compared to an interline CCD and a back-illuminated EMCCD (pdf).

…

Read More


Nov062010November 6, 2010November 6, 20105Commentsby L.

Cameras for ultra low light levels

Posted in Hardware

Many image sensors are built backwards, just like the retina. The actual photon detectors are buried behind a mesh of circuitry. Back-illuminated sensors, where the detectors are put…

Read More


Oct222010October 22, 2010October 22, 20100Commentby L.

More 2p Cross Sections

Posted in Tips

Here are some 2p cross sections for Alexa dyes from Invitrogen. Dye manufacturers are getting better about sharing 2p cross sections, but they still rely on out side people to do the measurements. In this case, Warren Zipfel from Cornell.

Speaking of…

Read More


Oct192010October 19, 2010March 27, 201216Commentsby L.

Two-Photon Cross Sections

Posted in Tips

It’s difficult to track down 2p absorption cross sections for dyes and proteins. Doing it right requires…

Read More


Oct112010October 11, 2010October 11, 20102Commentsby L.

PMTs for 2-photon imaging

Posted in Hardware

On the topic of custom two-photon imaging rigs, what kind of PMTs do you want to go with? Naturally, you’ll order yours to be hand selected for high quantum efficiency…

Read More


Oct082010October 8, 2010October 8, 20105Commentsby L.

Arduino – a simple microcontroller

Posted in Hardware

Arduino is a popular, cheap (around 25 USD), and open source microcontroller platform. We use them all over the lab. Students can learn to program them very quickly, they’re versatile, and there…

Read More