Hello Jan,

If this HXO is a metal halide lamp (which I doubt), then the spectral properties are better in the  green excitation with shallower UV peaks compared to a normal Hg burner. If it is a Xenon lamp (which I think it is), then it is pretty flat but powerful through out the UV/visible spectrum with the largest spikes in the IR (which are filtered out before it goes through the scope anyway).

Pete

On Jun 2, 2010, at 09:43 AM, Jan Grawé wrote:

> Hello, 
> not a confocal question, but I hope someone may enlighten me.
> 
> One of our users needs to replace the lamp housing on her Zeiss fluorescence
> microscope. The Zeiss rep recommends switching to a HXP lamp and housing.
> She needs to know that the HXP lamp will give equal or better excitation
> than HBO of especially Alexa 488 and Alexa 546.
> I have no experience of HXP lamps, so how does the excitation efficiency
> compare to a HBO lamp in practice? Other advantages, besides long life?
> 
> Best regards,
> Jan Grawé
> 
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