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Hi, Sarah - 

I have not done this (yet), but at least in theory it is possible.  It
probably depends on the power of your laser.  

I *think* that TILL Photonics offers such a solution "off the shelf" more or
less, but don't know for sure.  Check out:
http://www.till-photonics.com/products/accessories/tirf1.html

We have been talking to McBain Instruments
[http://www.mcbaininstruments.com/] about sharing lasers for spinning disk
confocal (more laser required than for laser scanning applications) and
TIRF.  They are working out a beam-splitting option which would direct
percentage of total laser to one application or the other (90/10 to 10/90).
Do you want to be able to do both simultaneously or would you be using only
one OR the other?  Lastly, alignment may always be an issue if switching
applications.  

Best of luck to you!

-Holly
__________________________
Holly L. Aaron
Imaging Specialist
Molecular Imaging Center
Cancer Research Laboratory
447 Life Sciences Addition #2751
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-2751
510.642.2901
510.642.5741 fax
[log in to unmask]
http://imaging.berkeley.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Michael Cammer
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 7:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fiber optic splitter?


Search the CONFOCAL archive at
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A lot depends on the efficiency of the fluorescent probe and the S/N of the
detector.  For instance, with TIRF 0.2 mW 488 nm at the back aperture of
objective is fine for our samples that can involve long (> 2s) exposure
times but inadequate for dim signals.  2.5 mW may be fine for small granules
moving quickly in living cells (but exposure times of approx. 100ms which is
still too slow for some applications), but the trade off is bleaching or
killing the cells. -Michael C.

At 10:28 AM 5/28/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>Search the CONFOCAL archive at 
>http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
>Hi-
>We have a confocal that we are planning to add TIRF capabilities to. 
>Would it be possible to share our Ar/Kr laser between the two inputs 
>with a fiber-optic splitter(i.e. half light going to the scan head, 
>half to the TIRF module)?  I'm new to TIRF so I'm not sure what sort of 
>laser power one needs.  It seems like for confocal at least we have 
>laser power to spare, so losing half of it wouldn't be a big deal.  Any 
>thoughts about this?
>Thanks-
>Sarah
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>---------------
>Sarah Locknar, Ph.D.
>Director, Neuroscience COBRE Imaging / Physiology Core
>College of Medicine, University of Vermont
>E015 Given Building
>89 Beaumont Ave.
>Burlington, VT 05405
>802-656-0413
>802-656-8704 (fax)
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------------

____________________________________________________________________________
Michael Cammer   Analytical Imaging Facility   Albert Einstein Coll. of Med.
Jack & Pearl Resnick Campus      1300 Morris Park Ave.     Bronx, NY  10461
(718) 430-2890       Fax:  430-8996      URL:  http://www.aecom.yu.edu/aif/